Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir has confirmed that former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has been appointed the new president commissioner of state-owned energy holding company Pertamina.

“Insya Allah [God willing], [President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo] has decided that Pak Basuki will be the new Pertamina president commissioner,” Erick told the press at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday.

Jokowi and Ahok have had a close relationship since the two men served together as Jakarta governor and deputy governor respectively.

Ahok, Erick said, would be accompanied by Deputy SOEs Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin who would serve as vice president commissioner of the oil and gas company.

The appointment aimed to reduce oil and gas imports that had long burdened the country’s trade balance, said Erick, adding that he needed a good team to help accelerate the development of six oil refineries across the country.

“I think we need a groundbreaking figure [to lead the SOEs] so we can achieve our targets,” he said.

Since his appointment as SOEs minister in October, Erick has brought a number of reforms to the ministry.

He recently dismissed all his undersecretaries and placed them on the boards of directors of several SOEs to comply with Jokowi’s instructions to make the ministry more efficient. As an additional measure, the number of the ministry’s undersecretaries will be reduced to three from seven.

Erick offered Ahok a position at an SOE despite Ahok’s controversial past, namely his nearly two-year imprisonment on blasphemy charges. The case played a major role in Ahok’s defeat in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election against Anies Baswedan.

Erick was confident that Ahok would be the right man to fix the state-owned firm’s performance despite objections from Pertamina’s labor union.

Ahok was not available for comment when contacted by The Jakarta Post on Friday evening.

Jokowi also appointed cellular provider Telkomsel president director Emma Sri Martini as Pertamina finance director. She will replace Pahala N. Mansury who was appointed president director at state-owned lender Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN).

“The appointment letter [from Jokowi] has already been issued, so Pertamina will hold a shareholders meeting on Monday to officially appoint new members of the board of commissioners and directors,” SOEs Ministry spokesperson Arya Sinulingga said.

He confirmed that Nicke Widyawati would remain Pertamina president director.

Ahok will resign from his position as a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) because, Erick said, an SOEs commissioner or director should not be a party member to maintain independence from political interests.

Government Regulation (PP) No. 45/2005 on the establishment, management, supervision and disbandment of SOEs prohibits only political party managers, candidates and legislative members from serving as commissioners, directors or supervisory board members of an SOE.

Jokowi also appointed former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Chandra Hamzah as BTN president commissioner to replace Asmawi Syam. Chandra’s legal background could improve the bank’s accountability and transparency as it played an important part of tackling the country’s housing backlog problem, Erick said.

As BTN is a publicly listed company, unlike privately owned Pertamina, the appointment of Pahala and Chandra will take place after the bank holds an extraordinary general shareholders meeting on Nov. 27.

At least three strategic SOEs, namely largest state-owned lender Bank Mandiri, state-owned mining holding company Inalum and state electricity firm PLN, currently have vacant president director positions.

Former Inalum president director Budi Gunadi Sadikin and former Mandiri president director Kartika Wirjoatmodjo have recently been appointed deputy SOEs ministers.

PLN president director Sofyan Basir was suspended after being charged with graft. He was exonerated earlier this month. Former BTN president director Suprajarto resigned shortly after being assigned the position, citing irregularities in his appointment.

Arya said Inalum would also hold its extraordinary general shareholders meeting on Monday to appoint its new president director. However, he kept quiet about who would fill the seat.

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