Rudiantara Is The Strongest Candidate To Become The President Director Of PLN

Rudiantara. (Photo: Twitter @rudiantara_id)

JAKARTA - State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Minister Erick Thohir will announce the name of the new PT PLN President Director on Monday 23 December at 16.00 WIB at the BUMN Ministry office, Jakarta.

"Later at 4 pm, it should be at the Ministry (BUMN) office," said Erick.

According to Erick, there are three names of candidates who will hold the position of president director of the BUMN that regulates electricity issues, one of which is the former Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara.

"Pak Rudiantara is one of the candidates. "It will be decided at 4 o'clock," said Erick.

In addition to announcing the name of the president director of PLN, Erick will also convey the names of the Deputy President Director, Finance Director, President Commissioner, and Deputy President Commissioner. However, Erick added that the former Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti was not on the list of candidate names.

"The name Mrs. Susi for TPA (Final Assessment Team) does not exist so far," said Erick.

Erick emphasized that he would choose good people to help him manage 142 state-owned enterprises in the country. "We will definitely recruit good people. 142 BUMNs need a good main commissioner and president director," he said.

Previously, on December 9, 2019, Erick Thohir's Special Staff, Arya Sinulingga, mentioned the name of the former Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara, as the strongest candidate of the three existing candidates. This was based on the decision of the TPA trial chaired by President Joko Widodo.

The three candidates consisted of Rudiantara, Plt. President Director of PLN Sri Peni Inten Cahyani, and Executive Director of the Indonesian Expo Financing Agency (LPEI) Sinthya Roesli.

A strong signal of Rudiantara's name to be elected also came from the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. Luhut assessed that Rudiantara was the right person to become the President Director of PT PLN.

According to him, with his experience as a former Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Rudiantara has valuable capital to lead PLN. In addition, Rudiantara was a Deputy Director of PLN. Rudiantara served as Deputy Director of PLN in 2008-2009. At that time, he worked with Fahmi Mochtar who served as the President Director.

During his tenure as Deputy Director of PLN, Rudiantara played a major role in seeking funding for the 10,000 MW Power Plant project. However, he decided to resign before Dahlan Iskan was appointed as Managing Director to replace Fahmi Mochtar.

Apart from being a part of PLN, Rudiantara's experience has been Minister of Communication and Information and head of a telecommunications company. This experience is considered to make Rudiantara suitable for the position of President Director of PLN.

Energy Watch Executive Director Mamit Setiawan said that Rudiantara was a qualified figure as the President Director of PLN. "Because he (Rudiantara) had served as Deputy Director of PLN, so at least, it won't take long to get to know PLN because he already understands the PLN business itself," said Mamit to VOI.

Mamit continued, Rudiantara would face tough challenges as the President Director of PLN. The reason is, PLN as the only provider of electricity services will of course always be in the spotlight.

"PLN as a public service obligation (PSO) must be correct in maintaining their financial condition where currently they are quite heavy on the financial side to bear the risks. Moreover, the government has not raised electricity prices for quite a long time," said Mamit.

In addition, Mamit continued, the internal efficiency of PLN must be carried out where many generators still use diesel. According to him, it must be replaced with cheaper ones, such as natural gas.

"Moreover, PLN must support the diversification from BBM to natural gas in which the 23% mix energy program in 2025 must be achieved," said Mamit.

Meanwhile, an energy observer from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Fahmy Radhi stated that there were several challenges that Rudiantara had to face at PLN. Starting from the completion of the 35,000 Megawatt (MW) power plant construction program, preventing the recurrence of mass blackouts like in August 2019, keeping electricity rates affordable, to eradicating the electricity project mafia.

"The biggest challenge that must be faced by a PLN president director is the electricity project mafia. Many PLN CEOs are tempted to end up stumbling into legal cases because they are involved in mafia games," he explained to VOI.

As a President Director of PLN, Fahmy continued, Rudiantara must have the commitment and courage to fight the Electricity Project Mafia. This is because, according to Fahmy, most of the CEOs of PLN are not against the Project Mafia, but have instead been dragged into the hunt for rent in the PLN project so they have to deal with the Attorney General's Office and the KPK.

"Rudiantara is indeed a professional, who has been a high-ranking Indosat and Deputy Director of PLN, but still has to face the challenges of the Electricity Project Mafia. If he is not careful and has the courage to fight the Electricity Project Mafia, it is possible that Rudiantara could slip, like some of the previous CEOs of PLN. , "said Fahmy.

He also hopes that Rudiantara should encourage PLN to improve services. Even though it has no competition, Fahmy said, PLN still needs to innovate. "As a monopolist, Rudiantara must be able to transform radical changes to achieve service excellence for consumers," concluded Fahmy.