Laksamana faces legal defeat at PTUN

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A former member of PT Telkom's board of commissioners who lost his job for alleged incompetence during a government-ordered reshuffle, must be reinstated, the Jakarta State Administrative Court has ruled.

The ruling could pave the way for the return of other former top executives dismissed in similar circumstances, including former company president M. Nazief.

The court on Thursday found in favor of Rahardjo Tjakraningrat in his legal battle against State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi.

Rahardjo challenged Laksamana's decision to dismiss him during a major reshuffle at the state-owned telecommunications firm in June last year.

Laksamana can appeal the decision.

Rahardjo's lawyer Chudriy Sitompul was quoted by detik.com as saying that if his client defeated the appeal, Laksamana would have to annul the restructuring policy and reinstate Rahardjo and other former top Telkom officials.

The reshuffle was a response to a perception that the previous Telkom management were incompetent.

The government at the time among others appointed Kristiono as the new president of the company, replacing Nazief.

The court, in its ruling, said Laksamana's reshuffle was not made in accordance with existing regulations.

Chudriy said Laksamana's argument that his client had failed to carry out his duties could not be accepted because the latter had not received any warning prior to the reshuffle.

Initially, Nazief joined Rahardjo in mounting a legal challenge against the policy, but later withdrew without providing an explanation.