Telkom's new bosses are elected smoothly

JAKARTA (JP): Shareholders of state-owned PT Telkom yesterday appointed the company's new boards of commissioners and directors and approved the management's plan to pay dividends of Rp 24.48 per share or US$0.21 per American Depository Share.

The appointments were mad during the shareholders' annual meeting here, the first to be held after the company floated shares on domestic and overseas stock markets in 1995.

The company also reported that out of its net profit of Rp 906.88 billion (US$387 million) in 1995, 23 percent will be used to pay the dividends, 1 percent used for backup investments and 76 percent for investment plans.

"One of the investment plans is the T2001 program, a program to make Telkom world-class operator by the year 2001," Telkom's outgoing president, Setyanto P. Santosa, said.

The T2001 program will cost Rp 9.8 trillion.

The atmosphere during yesterday's three-hour meeting became calmer when Telkom's outgoing chief commissioner, Martiono Hadianto, announced the new boards of commissioners and directors.

Objections by three shareholders and abstention by another meant nothing in the replacement of Telkom's executives.

Asman Akhir Nasution, Harry Supangkat and Andi Siswaka Faisal were then voted in as Telkom's president, director of finance and director of planning/technology respectively replacing Setyanto, Moeljohardjoko and Wisnu Askari Marantika.

Meanwhile, Bambang Subianto, the director general for financial institutions at the Ministry of Finance, was elected to replace Martiono Hadianto as Telkom's chief commissioner.

Yesterday's meeting also agreed to retain Rustam Didong, Abdoel Djabar Mangoendihardjo, Daeng Iskandar and Suharto as commissioners, and John Welly and Dadad Kustiwa as directors.

Director General of State-owned Enterprises Bacelius Ruru, who attended the meeting, said very little upon the resignations of Telkom's executives before the expiration of their duties -- in 1998 for Martiono and in 2000 for Setyanto, Wisnu and Moeljohardjoko.

"The most important thing in a company is the system, not the board of executives. If the system is working, everyone assigned to run it can leave his job," Ruru said.

He denied there had been "powerful directions" in the replacement.

He said that the government, as Telkom's major shareholder, considered giving other people the opportunity to be the company's executives.

In a press conference held after the shareholders meeting, Setyanto denied that during his leadership Telkom made any illegally payments to the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications.

Wisnu, meanwhile, admitted that he had submitted his resignation to the government because he suffers from vertigo.

"I submitted a resignation letter on May 9," he said,

Wisnu admitted as well that he had been offered Setyanto's job as the Telkom president. (icn)