Professional managers fill key ministry posts
JAKARTA (JP): Several professional managers from top private and state companies have been appointed to fill important posts in the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprise.
Minister of Finance Fuad Bawazier installed yesterday Rini Mariani Soemarno Soewandi, the finance director of publicly listed PT Astra International, as his advisor in charge of international economic and financial affairs in succession to Murtiono.
Rini, born in Maryland, USA, in 1958, is concurrently vice chairman of the Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA), a commissioner of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) and deputy chief commissioner of publicly listed PT United Tractors.
Fuad also named Glenn Muhammad Surya Yusuf as the director general of financial institutions, replacing Bambang Subianto.
Glenn Yusuf is currently the president of state-owned financial giant PT Danareksa.
Fuad said yesterday that the appointment of the private and public-sector professionals was important to help the Ministry of Finance create market-friendly monetary policies.
He said that, unlike in developed countries, in Indonesia, recruiting top professionals from private companies was a new trend.
In the United States, according to Fuad, recruiting private- sector professionals to work in government offices is common practice.
"But in Indonesia, it is only that many retired civil servants have been recruited as executives in private companies," he said.
State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises Tanri Abeng appointed yesterday Markus Parmadi as his deputy in charge of public services and the management of human resources development.
Markus is at present the president of Bank Lippo of the widely-diversified Lippo Group.
Tanri appointed two former Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) chairmen, Marzuki Usman and Bacelius Ruru, as respectively the executive secretary and deputy executive secretary for the promotion of the competitiveness of the state companies.
Tanri named Herwidayatmo as his deputy in charge of state enterprises' privatization and restructurization.
Herwidayatmo is currently the head of Bapepam's Corporate Finance I Bureau.
Tanri installed several other assistants, including Cahyana Ahamdjayadi as his deputy in charge of the management of strategic industries, Soeroso as an expert staffer on macro economic, Arie Soelendro as an expert staffer on the development and supervision of human resources and Sudjiono Timan as an expert staffer for business and finance development.
Privatization
Tanri said yesterday his ministry was now concentrating on the privatization of 12 state corporations as part of the agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund early this month.
"The privatization of the 12 companies has become our first priority in the short term,' he said after installing the new officials.
The government has named seven state firms to be privatized during this fiscal year and the five other listed companies in which the government will divest its stake.
The seven companies are port management firms PT Pelindo I and PT Pelindo II, palm oil plantain firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV, toll-road operator PT Jasa Marga, coal mining firm PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam, steel maker PT Krakatau Steel and airport management firm PT Angkasa Pura II.
The five listed firms in which the government will divest its stake include PT Telkom, PT Indosat, PT Semen Gresik, nickel and gold mining company PT Aneka Tambang and mining firm PT Tambang Timah.
Tanri said seven foreign companies from Europe and the United Sates had expressed an interest in becoming strategic partners of the listed companies.
"Most of them are interested in the manufacturing and telecommunications sectors," he said declining to mention the names of the foreign interests.
Fuad also reiterated yesterday the need for the country's private sector corporations to comply with presidential decree No. 56/1998 and report their overseas debts to the central bank, Bank Indonesia, to provide more transparency to the public.
"But the government guarantees to protect their personal rights," he said.
The main objective of the disclosure of the country's private sector's foreign debts was to have exact data on their foreign debts, he said.
"The government needs to know their overseas debts in case they have difficulties repaying their debts," he said, adding that the government did not have any clear data on overseas debts.
Fuad has said that the presidential decree will allow him to disclose the names of large corporate borrowers to the public.
Bank Indonesia estimated earlier this month that the country's private sector debt stood at US$67.7 billion, excluding the $12.5 billion owed by the state enterprises.
He said that recent agreement by the G-22 countries, including Indonesia, also stated that each country would provide exact data on financial flows, including overseas debts, from one country to another.
"And we will start to apply the agreement by requiring all Indonesian private sector companies to report their foreign debts to the central bank," he said. (aly)