Professional managers fill key ministry posts

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)