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othing is unusual about a change of leadership in an organization or a corporation, but such change, if made too frequently, could raise eyebrows.

In less than a month, three giant state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have each seen a reshuffle on the grounds that such moves were needed to help improve performance.

The three state companies are energy holding firm Pertamina, gas subholding firm PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) and national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia.

The most recent reshuffle was carried out by Pertamina, which named on Thursday three new directors less than a month after its human resources director, Nicke Widyawati, was promoted to president director.

The government decided in April to remove Elia Massa Manik from his post as Pertamina president director, not long after the company’s management warned of potential revenue decline if Pertamina kept selling low-quality Premium gasoline at below market value, as ordered by the government.

Following Elia’s removal, Nicke was appointed acting chief until her appointment as the president director weeks ago.

On Thursday, the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry announced a reshuffle in Pertamina following the company’s extraordinary shareholders meeting. Finance director Arief Budiman was replaced by Pahala Mansury, who lost his position as Garuda Indonesia president director on Wednesday.

Also, Pertamina petrochemical and processing megaproject director Heru Setiawan was replaced by Ignatius Tallulembang, who has spent more than two decades with the company.

University of Indonesia (UI) economist Toto Pranoto said it would not create any problems if the successors were experienced and had credible track records. However, if changes are made too often, it could reduce investor confidence.

“Garuda is a publicly listed company. If in less than a year, or every year, changes in top management occurred, then investors would doubt whether or not the government really knows who is suitable to lead Garuda,” said Toto, the managing director of the UI Management Institute.

Toto said Ari Askhara was qualified for the position as long as the government — as the majority shareholder — gave him enough time to create and execute a long-term plan.

Abra Talattov, an economist from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), said Ari Askhara should be able to communicate well with employees inside the company. “The biggest job for the new president director is to be able to manage internal conflicts inside Garuda because this can disrupt business operations,” he said.

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno defended the reshuffle, saying it was a common measure that intended to put the right person in the right position.

“We have the reasons [to reshuffle], not only based on their [management] performance in one year. Yet, we look at the challenges ahead,” she said.

The reshuffle in Pertamina was made days after the company presented a gloomy outlook for next year at the House of Representatives. During the hearing, the government only targeted around
Rp 1.3 billion (US$87,607) in dividends in 2019, or less than half of its target this year at Rp 3.4 billion.

Pertamina’s 2019 dividend target includes PGN as its new subsidiary overseeing the gas sector.

Signs that Pertamina will not meet its year-end revenue target emerged in the first half of this year, when the state company only gained Rp 5 trillion, or 15 percent of its full-year target of Rp 32 trillion.

Meanwhile, on Monday, PGN’s president director, Jobi Triananda Hasjim, was replaced by Gigih Prakoso, who was previously the Pertamina director of investment planning and risk management.

On Wednesday, Garuda Indonesia’s president director, Pahala Mansury, was replaced by I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra aka Ari Askhara, the previous president director of state-owned port operator Pelindo III.

—Marchio Irfan Gorbiano contributed to this story.