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Big guns brought in for reform
Amien Sunaryadi
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Amien Sunaryadi. JP/Ricky Yudhistira
Admired widely as among the nation's few icons of integrity, Amien Sunaryadi is vowing to carry out a structural overhaul of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Task Force (SKKMigas) after President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo appointed him on Wednesday to lead the graft-ridden agency.
As former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman, Amien said that the agency was particularly in need of structural changes and improvement in its financial management.
'SKKMigas' financial management is attached to the state budget. If we can improve the system and make things clearer, decision-making will be faster and business certainty will be higher,' said Amien, who served as an Ernst & Young Indonesia partner for fraud investigation and disputes prior to assuming the post.
'I have limited experience in the oil and gas industry. However, from a helicopter view I can identify that there are more than 1,500 companies dealing with more than 300 oil and gas contractors here that need a system in which they can carry out transactions efficiently, transparently and quickly,' he said without elaborating further.
Amien was among the first batch of officials who helped set up the KPK when the agency was formed in 2002, working with then KPK chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki and fellow official Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas.
An accountant by training, Amien was highly regarded for establishing the KPK's IT system that also involved the building of infrastructure that enables the agency to tap the telecommunications of graft suspects.
'SKKMigas needs to be led by someone who will struggle to reinforce the country's energy sovereignty,' said Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said.
'SKKMigas needs to improve its institution, act modestly, establish standardization and transparency. I think Pak Amien is the right person,' said Sudirman, who was apparently a classmate of Amien's in the prestigious State College of Accounting (STAN) in 1981.
SKKMigas is responsible for regulating and overseeing the operations of oil and gas companies, such as US energy giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil, UK-based BP and French Total SA.
One month into his presidency, Jokowi has proven his commitment to reform the energy sector by bringing in reform-minded figures to clean up the regulating institutions amid a number of graft cases implicating several of their top officials.
Former SKKMigas chief Rudi Rubiandini was sentenced to seven years in jail in April after the KPK caught him red-handed receiving bribes from several firms. The KPK has also declared former Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik a suspect in a separate graft case.
Jokowi's appointment of graft activist Sudirman as the energy and mineral resources minister also supports the reform measures.
Less than two weeks after his appointment, Sudirman dismissed the ministry's oil and gas director general Edy Hermantoro ' the industry's old guard who was deemed by many to have held back reform in the sector.
Sudirman appointed on Saturday University of Indonesia economist Faisal Basri, who has an impeccable reputation for integrity, to lead a team to solve governance problems that have been gnawing at the country's oil and gas potential, especially relating to the existence of a so-called oil and gas mafia.
In a recent discussion, Sudirman said that his priority in the short term was to regain public trust in the oil and gas authorities.
'Everything that we do will mean nothing if we cannot assure the public that we're serious in overhauling the industry and rooting out the mafia,' he said.
The vice president of the Indonesian Petroleum Association (IPA), Sammy Hamzah, welcomed Amien's appointment, which was made less than one month after Jokowi's inauguration.
The appointment of a permanent chief has provided leadership certainty to SKKMigas, which has been led by an acting chief since 2013 after Rudi's graft case came to light.
'We don't know Pak Amien, but I think it is not a bad thing that a new person without a background in the oil and gas industry is given the trust to lead the industry. We are also glad to hear that he considered transparency as an important element,' Sammy said.
However, he warned that the systemic changes as planned by Amien should involve revisions to the oil and gas law to ensure the legal status of the agency as mandated by the Constitutional Court.
Short-term reform
1. Minister Sudirman aims to regain public trust by removing a number of top officials.
2. Head of the reform team for oil and gas sector, Faisal Basri, plans to lay out new rules to root out mafia practices.
3. SKKMigas chief Amien Sunaryadi aims to put the oil and gas regulatory task force in order, build a better system and improve financial management.
4. The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry also has a new entity called the performance controlling unit headed by Widhyawan Prawiraatmaja, who previously served as the SKKMigas deputy for commercialization. The unit will function similar to the Presidential Working Unit for Supervision and Management of Development (UKP4). The minister has requested a number of UKP4 officials to participate.
5. Sudirman and Faisal will review the operations of Singapore-based Petral, PT Pertamina's unit responsible for importing oil and fuel into the country. The fate of the trading arm, which is regarded by many as the home base of the oil and gas mafia, will be decided within the next three months.
