No Urgency To Name Pertamina President Director Soon

Jakarta, Aug 28 (Antara) - The government should not rush to appoint a president director for state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina to succeed Karen Agustiawan who has resigned, an observer noted. "Pertamina is a strategic state firm, so the government should not be in a hurry to appoint a new president director," energy observer Komaidi Notonegoro of the ReforMiner Institute remarked here on Thursday. Moreover, Karen`s tenure will end on October 1, 2014. "It is still relatively a long time away, so the government still has sufficient time to find a suitable future leader for Pertamina," he affirmed. He suggested that it will also be better if the new president director of Pertamina was named after President-elect Joko Widodo was inaugurated on October 20, 2014. "Thus, the appointment of the Pertamina president director will match with the inauguration of the new government," he noted. Komaidi was of the viewpoint that the person found suitable to lead Pertamina should have sound integrity and strong leadership skills. "It will be better if he or she also has good knowledge of the oil and gas business," the ReforMiner Institute observer stressed. He did not question whether the prospective president director will be selected from Pertamina`s internal or external circles. "The most important thing is that he or she has integrity and exhibits strong leadership," Komaidi remarked. The new president director should be able to lead Pertamina to expand overseas, so that it will eventually become a multinational firm that deserves to be the pride of Indonesia. Karen Agustiawan has tendered her resignation as president director of Pertamina due to personal reasons, noted Pertamina`s spokesman Ali Mundakir. "It is true she has filed a letter of resignation with the company, with a copy addressed to the state enterprises minister. She has decided to resign as she wants to spend the rest of her life with her family," Ali informed the press last week. The letter of resignation was dated August 13, 2014. As per procedure, the letter of resignation should be filed 30 days before the date of resignation. Karen, who will resign on October 1, 2014, had assumed the post of Pertamina president director on February 5, 2009. She was earlier Pertamina`s upstream director until March 5, 2008. On March 5, 2013, the government had reappointed her as Pertamina`s president director until 2018. "So, Mrs Karen has occupied the posts of director and president director for six and a half years," Ali stressed. Six and a half years were adequate for Karen to promote Pertamina, and she felt it was time to provide opportunities to her subordinates, he noted. Ali emphasized that Karen had successfully turned Pertamina into a world-class company. According to Fortune 500 magazine, Pertamina was ranked 122nd in 2013 and 123rd in 2014 among the world`s leading companies. Ali revealed that Karen had filed a letter of resignation a year ago. "When the government reappointed her last year, Mrs Karen had objected to her second term but State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan retained her," he noted. Karen will serve as Pertamina`s president director until October 1, 2014, he stated. "Right now, she is on an official trip to Malaysia," he revealed. Ali denied claims that Karen had decided to resign after receiving an offer to occupy a political seat. "There has been no offer to occupy a political post. The truth is that she has received an offer from an international education institution and corporation. She, however, has affirmed that she will take rest after resigning as Pertamina`s president director," he added.