Kuntoro blends heart, skill
Riyadi Suparno, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, 58, the newly installed chairman of the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Executing Agency, has only one problem with living in Aceh: he cannot eat without feeling of unease.
It all started when he visited a refugee camp in Banda Aceh on the very first day of his visit to Aceh after being installed as the chairman of the reconstruction agency where he met a family of three: Eva, her husband and their son.
In making small talk, Kuntoro asked Eva the mundane question of whether she and her family had eaten lunch, to which she replied, "not yet."
From the refugee camp, Kuntoro was taken to Pendopo hall, from where the distribution of aid and other needs for displaced people is directed.
"At Pendopo, lunch was waiting for us. Delicious Acehnese dishes were on the table. Then I wondered whether Eva and her family had eaten lunch yet, whether the boy had been given anything to eat.
"Since then, Eva and her family are on my mind whenever I eat a meal," he said.
When asked what the experience meant to him as chairman of the reconstruction agency, Kuntoro said, "I will try my best to ensure that no money we manage is misused at the expense of people like Eva and her family."
Kuntoro is not new to Aceh or the tsunami. As founder and chairman of the Global Rescue Network, Kuntoro helped a team that was among the first to arrive in Meulaboh, one of most devastated towns along the western coast of Aceh.
Global Rescue Network volunteers are from various backgrounds, including doctors, medics, rescuers, radio operators and environmental experts.
Kuntoro is also an executive of the Indonesia Rescue Network (IndoRescue), which facilitates the construction of houses and drilled wells in Lamno, West Aceh.
Nevertheless, Kuntoro's appointment as the head of the reconstruction agency is not without opposition. A number of Acehnese have objected to his appointment, saying they would rather see an Acehnese lead the reconstruction agency.
He appeared relaxed -- and even joked -- when asked about the community opposition. Kuntoro treated the matter lightly when asked why he had been chosen, saying: "I don't know. Ask those who selected me. Well, maybe it's because I'm bald."
His selection is possibly because of his clean track record throughout his career with state-owned enterprises and in government.
In addition, he is also a capable manager, who transformed the near-bankrupt PT Timah state tin mining company into not only a profitable entity but one of the world's most efficient tin mining firms. Because of this, Timah then successfully listed its shares on the Jakarta and London stock exchanges.
Timah is often referred to as a fine example of corporate restructuring, particularly of restructuring and privatization of state enterprises. And Kuntoro is inseparable from Timah's successful restructuring.
After serving as president of PT Timah since 1989 until 1994, Kuntoro was appointed director general of mines at the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Unlike at Timah, where his star rose, Kuntoro met a major test as a bureaucrat during his stint as director general of mines. It was during this time that the infamous Busang gold mining scam broke -- in which Canadian Bre X's claim that had discovered huge gold deposits in Busang, East Kalimantan, turned out to be false.
Kuntoro was dragged willy-nilly into the abyss of Busang. Because of the case, his relations with his superior, then minister of mines and energy IB Sudjana, soured. Kuntoro was then kicked out of the ministry and in 1997 was named deputy chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board.
In March 1998, Kuntoro was surprisingly selected as the minister of mines and energy in Soeharto's seventh -- and last -- Development Cabinet, which lasted only three months until May 22, 1998, when the Cabinet was dissolved after Soeharto stepped down following massive prodemocracy protests and unrest.
BJ Habibie, who replaced Soeharto as president, retained Kuntoro as minister of mines and energy in his Development and Reform Cabinet, which lasted about one-and-a-half years until Oct. 26, 1999.
During his tenure as minister, no big achievements were recorded. This might be because of the uncertain situation at the time when he was minister, both under Soeharto and Habibie. Nevertheless, he managed to complete the drafting of two important bills: the electricity bill and the oil and gas bill.
After retiring from the Cabinet, in 2000, Kuntoro was again entrusted by then president Abdurrahman Wahid with the daunting task of leading the debt-ridden state electricity company, PLN.
As PLN president, Kuntoro faced a mammoth job, namely handling the company's huge debt and renegotiating agreements with independent power producers (IPPs) that charged PLN exorbitant prices for electricity they produced and sold to the state electricity company.
Kuntoro managed to force IPPs to renegotiate the lop-sided agreements, but failed to turn PLN into an as efficient firm as he had made Timah. To be fair, PLN's problems were so huge that it would have taken a miracle to transform it from a practically bankrupt company into a profitable one in one year.
After retiring from PLN in 2001, Kuntoro returned to his alma mater, the Bandung Institute of Technology, where he got his industrial engineering degree as well as his doctorate degree on engineering-decision science. He obtained his master's degree on industrial and mechanical engineering from Stanford University, the United States.
After the long hiatus since his stint at PLN, Kuntoro has again caught the media's attention with his appointment as chairman of the reconstruction agency.
With the new appointment, Kuntoro will have to move his family to Aceh and live there for the next four years, and forgo all the luxury he enjoyed in Jakarta and Bandung -- unless his position in the reconstruction agency is taken by somebody else.
"Fortunately, I don't play golf. I do jog for exercise. I'm looking forward to jogging on Aceh's beautiful beaches," he said.