Telkom keeps Kristiono, names Abeng chairman

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Shareholders of publicly listed telecommunications firm PT Telkom retained Kristiono as the company's president in a major reshuffle proposed by the government following accounting woes.

Meanwhile, Tanri Abeng, a former minister overseeing state enterprises, was named as the company's president commissioner, replacing Bacelius Ruru. The position is equal to a company chairman.

Tanri had been implicated in the high-profile 1999 Bank Bali scandal, but was later acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence.

"The reshuffle is aimed at improving the company's performance," said Roes Aryawijaya, deputy at the Office of the State Minister of State Enterprises, on Wednesday following an extraordinary shareholders meeting of the company that approved the reshuffle. The government owns a controlling 51 percent stake in Telkom, which is listed on both the Jakarta and New York stock exchanges.

He acknowledged, however, that part of the reason for the changes in the management was due to a six-month delay in the completion of a reaudit of Telkom's 2002 financial report, which put the company at risk of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The reaudit of the 2002 accounts, which was required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), resulted in a 3.7 percent decline in the 2002 profit than earlier reported.

Speculation had been rife that State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi would fire Kristiono and replace him with someone from outside the company. However, such a move would have been unpopular among both employees and independent shareholders amid a conviction that Telkom should be led by a person who knows the company well. Kristiono, who took the helm at Telkom in 2002, has been with the company for more than 22 years.

The government did, however, appoint a new finance director, Rinaldi Firmansyah, replacing Guntur Siregar. The former is currently deputy commissioner at state-owned securities house PT Bahana Sekuritas.

Meanwhile, Suryatin Setiawan, previously telecommunications network business director, was appointed as service business director.

Abdul Haris was appointed as the new telecommunications network business director.

On the board of commissioners, head of the Fiscal Analysis Body at the Ministry of Finance, Anggito Abimanyu, and staff member at the Office of the State Minister of State Enterprises, Gatot Trihargo, were selected as new board members. Arif Arryman and P. Sartono were retained as independent commissioners at Telkom.

On Wednesday, Telkom shares fell by Rp 50 to Rp 7,150, which contributed to the overall decline of the Jakarta stock composite index.

Telkom is the largest telecommunications company in Indonesia and the largest counter on the JSX, with a 17 percent market capitalization.

Meanwhile, Kristiono said that Telkom would file its 2003 audited report in May of this year, which is still in line with the deadline set by the U.S. SEC, but way beyond the March deadline set by the Indonesian Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam).

Telkom has appointed accounting firm KPMG to audit the financial report.