West Sumatrans want spin-off be realized

PADANG, West Sumatra (JP): West Sumatran prominent public figures and the provincial legislative council have urged President Megawati to pay serious attention to their demand for the spin-off of cement company PT Semen Padang from parent PT Semen Gresik.

Provincial legislative council speaker Arwan Kasri told the media here on Sunday that the council had delivered a petition regarding the community's aspirations about the company's separation to the President during a closed-door meeting prior to her return to Jakarta on the same day.

The controversial demand for the separation of PT Semen Padang from PT Semen Gresik has been going on for several years -- since the administration of former president B.J. Habibie and former president Abdurrahman Wahid -- without any resolution. The local community has been demanding the spin-off due to its concerns over foreign ownership of Semen Gresik.

Semen Gresik is 25.53 percent owned by the Mexican-based cement maker Cemex SA de CV, which has long expressed a desire to increase its stake in the company.

According to the locals, Semen Padang was built on their ancestors' land and should therefore remain under Indonesian ownership.

Megawati, according to Arwan, very much understood the wish of the people and promised to discuss the problem later in Jakarta.

"The President even called State Secretary/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo and Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno to witness the handover of the petition," he added.

The petition contains three demands, that Semen Padang be separated from Semen Gresik, that it should not be sold to a foreign firm and that it be made a state enterprise.

Antara reported that public figures grouped under the Forum for Minangkabau People's Fight for the Return of Semen Padang asked Megawati to immediately activate the planned spin-off.

"We also warned the government not to go on with the put option deal with Cemex," Kamardi Rais Datuk Panjang Simulie, a forum chairman, said.

Kamardi said they were very much disappointed with Habibie's and Abdurrahman's lack of response to their demand. "That's why now we are demanding serious attention from President Megawati to separate PT Semen Padang from Semen Gresik," he said, adding that they had also submitted their demands in a letter delivered to the President during the closed-door meeting.

State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi said recently that he would establish a special team to examine the controversial demand.

Laksamana did not explain the structure of the team, but that it should also listen to the aspirations of local people as well as from the international community before making a decision. (28)