Pertamina Refinery Often Burns, Observer: President Director And Komut Must Resign

Pertamina President Director Nicke Widyawati (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

Energy Economy Observer at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Fahmy Karyani urged PT Pertamina (Persero) officials such as the President Director and President Commissioner to resign from their positions in the aftermath of the Plumpang Depo fire incident and the explosion at Dumai Refinery which occurred in a row.

"However, the successive incident with Plumpang which claimed the victims of 20 people, the top management, the president director and commissioner must and be responsible. They must resign from their positions," Fahmy told VOI, Monday, April 3.

In fact, if Pertamina officials do not resign, he continued, SOE Minister Erick Thohir should remove Pertamina's officials from his position.

Later, if the Minister of SOEs appoints a new high-ranking official, the new President Director must ensure that similar incidents do not happen again.

"Whoever the replacement must guarantee that there will be no accident so that an international standard security system will be implemented," continued Fahmy.

Fahmy said that if the incident caught fire at the Dumai Refinery proves that the security system omitted by Pertamina, especially for strategic assets and those with a low risk, is still very bad.

"Yesterday Plumpang had 20 victims, the Dumai Refinery opportunity had occurred twice. The security system was bad and Pertamina was negligent about the security system that should have been international standard," explained Fahmy.

Not only that, he also considered, this incident further proves the inability of the top management in running the security system at Pertamina Refinery.

He also assessed that Pertamina was not transparent in investigating the incident that occurred at Pertamina.

"Always say there is an investigation from the police and always blame lightning and never trace what causes it," he added.

For this reason, Fahmy suggested, Pertamina should implement an international standard security system.

Although expensive, he said, this was insignificant when compared to the fatalities caused by the incident.

Not only using international security standards, Fahmy also urged Pertamina to conduct an independent agency audit to determine the cause of the fire.

Finally, Fahmy also highlighted the role of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources which technically oversees Pertamina.

"The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources must also carry out regular monitoring, monitoring and audits," concluded Fahmy.