Spokespersons

Two days ago, I, like others, got short messages..."Dino Patti Djalal has been fired as presidential spokesperson for international affairs." So I rushed to ask Dino's friends. "No. It's a rumor. I've checked myself," one of his friends said. Today, we got mix information from the State Palace.

Detik.com quoted Andi Malarangeng, presidential spokesperson for domestic affairs indirectly 'confirmed' the rumor saying Dino got another special assignment (from the president) without further elaboration. But this evening, Tempointeraktif.com quoted Dino saying "I'm still the spokesperson."
Others say Dino has been asked to temporarily off-duty. "President SBY is looking for a new spokesperson," one officer at The State Palace said.
It's not clear why. Is it just a competition in the Inner Circle?

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Cabinet reshuffle preview

What's the urgency of a cabinet reshuffle if the leaders (President & VP) can't agree early on about their future, especially what kind of arrangement for 2009 election?

"Well, our real problem is the conflict betweeen the inner circles of both President & VP. Level of trust has been eroded in the past two years. President's inner circle suspicious about the VP and vice versa. This is not healthy at all, and a cabinet reshuffle would useless in such situation," one political analyst said.
Such resolution will work only if both leaders agree to run as a team in 2009, right? What if they decide to compete?
"That's gonna be disaster," he said.
Despite the skepticism, rumors about cabinet reshuffle have been intensified in the political circle. MSOE Sugiharto, for example, is rumored to be replaced by Sofyan Djalil (the communication minister). This is not new. Sofyan was member of Lembang Nine, success team for VP Kalla. Other name mentioned is...

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SBY's inner circle: Part III

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President 2009 Hypothetical Election (2)

Tommy, the political journalist, wasn't iritated when I tell him that someone called him an idiot (I guess the guy is president SBY's inner circle). "The fact, so far, SBY missed almost all his targets. The economy grew far below 7% as he promised during the campaign. Investment is stagnant, more unemployment. He is apparently not an effective leader. So, his chance would be slim to win the second term," Tommy argued.

Well, the economy indeed grew for only 5.5% annually on average in the last two years. Foreign direct investment is staggering. "But the stock market improved impressively in the last two years. Jakarta composite index grew more than 100%," I asked.
"Well, it is a bubble era and that's particularly good for portfolio investors. But you can't create enough new jobs from that," Tommy said.

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Telkom management reshuffle

Government as the largest shareholder will likely to reshuffle the management of PT Telkom Tbk, the largest company at Jakarta Stock Exchange by market capitalization, at the meeting scheduled June 30, Antara news agency reported today.

Muhammad Said Didu, secretary of the ministry of state-owned enterprises (MSOEs), said besides the replacement of BOD and BOC, number of directors would also be added three to make it 10.
The reshuffle has also something to do with the prosecution of two members of BOD in a VoIP scandal that led to corruption charges. But others simply on political reasons.
Antara quoted parliament member Syafrin Romas (National Awakening Party/PKB) saying he heard of the plan to oust Arwin Rasyid and Tanri Abeng, both president of BOD and BOC at Telkom. Arwin was appointed Telkom CEO in a shareholders meeting June 2005 along with other BOD members such as Garuda Sugardo (deputy president), Rinaldi Firmansyah (finance), Abdul Haris Matondang (infrastructure & network), Aris Yahya (corporate and wholesale), Guntur Siregar (consumer), and John Welly (human resources and development). Police detained Welly early this year on VoIP scandal. Siregar has been named a suspect in the case as well.
In the last few weeks, some groups have been bussy to launch maneuvers to reshuffle Telkom's management. Some political parties are reportedly not happy with the current officers and working hard to install their guys at the company including to push additional positions at directorship level.
Telkom's Workers Union had warned shareholders not to lift the risk management to director level as that would only add bureaucracy in the company. But political parties love the idea so they could share the directorships between them.
Seminars have been conducted in the last few weeks to pressure government to reshuffle Telkom management, including Arwin, an outsider at the company. (Arwin, a banker, was president director of Bank Danamon and vice president of BNI---the state owned bank).
Appointment of BOD and BOC at SOEs have always been subject to political pressures. During Soeharto years, it's he himself who appoint the BOD/BOC and the appointees only need to loyal to him. But 1998 reform has changed the political landscape in the country with nobody has clear power in hands and as a result they share the positions in SOEs as part of political calculations and games. And to maintain a position in the BOD/BOC, people have to have loyalty to some powerbrokers.
So, who will be the new CEO at Telkom? Some mentioned Garuda Sugardo and Abdul Haris Matondang. "People close to the State Place wanted Garuda to replace Arwin, while Arwin will be appointed Indosat CEO after Hasnul resigned this month," people close to the issue said. Garuda is reportedly close to president SBY's inner circle.
How about BOC?
The current Telkom BOC is consisted of Tanri Abeng (Chairman), Anggito Abimanyu (government economist), Gatot Trihargo, P. Sartono, and Arif Arryman (economist from Econit).
Tanri is a close friend to Vice President Jusuf Kalla and coordinating minister for people's welfare Aburizal Bakrie. Tanri has been named a suspect in a corruption case but managed to maintain his position at the company. No names tipped so far, but we'll know in the next few days.

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