Purnomo: The man for all seasons

Hans David Tampubolon ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Entikong, WEST Kalimantan   |  Tue, 11/10/2009 12:23 PM  |  National

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's surprise decision to name Purnomo Yusgiantoro as his defense minister might have raised the eyebrows of defense experts and analysts, but the man in question is very confident that he will able to carry the ball.

"We'll see how it goes," he said with a small burst of laughter to reporters during a visit to Entikong, West Kalimantan, on Saturday.

Many experts have questioned Purnomo's appointment not because of a lack in intellectual capacity, but because of his different track record.

For years, Purnomo has been known as an expert in the energy and economy field, rather than defense.

Purnomo graduated in 1974 from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). He obtained his Master of Science degree at the Colorado School of Mines in 1986 and completed his PhD in mineral and natural resource economics from the same university in 1988.

Purnomo, born in Semarang in 1951, spent most of his career in the energy field and reached his peak in that field by becoming the energy and mineral resources minister under three different presidents.

Purnomo was first named minister in 2000, when the country was under the presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid. He retained the post under the presidency of Megawati Soekarnoputri and later in Yudho-yono's first term.

During Purnomo's tenure as energy and mineral resources minister, he became one of the most unpopular public figures due to his implementation of significant and frequent gas and electricity price rises.

Despite his domestic unpopularity, Purnomo was acknowledged internationally as an expert in the energy field and always managed to justify his difficult decisions to raise gas and electricity prices.

One of Purnomo's pre-emptive moves to avoid social conflict stemming from the price increase was to allocate compensation funds for subsidies. The only defense-related position that Purnomo held was a brief stint as the deputy governor at the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) from 1998 to 2000.

Because of his track record, many analysts had speculated that Purnomo would be given another term in the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry when Yudhoyono summoned him to the presidential private residence in Cikeas, Bogor, for a fit and proper test for Cabinet members.

However, Purnomo revealed that President Yudhoyono had asked him about defense issues during a brief press conference after the test, a signal that the President had picked him to become the defense minister in his next Cabinet over public favorite, former foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda.

Purnomo, however, made a fatal public faux pas during the press conference by admitting he was quite ignorant of the so-called primary weapon defense system (Alutsista), basic knowledge for officials dealing with the country's inadequate weapons system and aging military equipment.

His apparent lack of knowledge and competency in his new field have drawn heavy criticism that he was not right for the job.

A University of Indonesia defense expert, Bantarto Bandoro, recently said that it was also possible that Purnomo had been named defense minister because he had proven himself to be "useful" to Yudhoyono during his previous term in the energy field.

Despite the public's skepticism, Purnomo decided to accept this new responsibility and pledged during the recent National Summit that he would do his best to increase the budget for the country's primary weapon system by at least 50 percent from the current allocation of Rp 40 trillion (US$4.24 billion) within the next five years.

During his visit to Entikong, Purnomo also pledged that he would improve the welfare of Indonesian soldiers, especially those serving along the country's border areas.

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