Editorial: Pertamina's new boss, the right choice
Wednesday, March 22 2017 - 08:44 AM WIB
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has finally chosen Elia Massa Manik to be the new President Director of state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina. He was chosen after a long and thoughtful assessment involving several top governmental officials.
At first there were several names proposed including top officials of Pertamina. At the last phase, there were only two names left: Elia and Sukandar, the CEO of state controlled IDX-listed steel maker PT Krakatau Steel Tbk. Everyone who knows Elia must agree that the government has made a good decision.
Elia is the right choice to be a CEO of such important company as Pertamina. He?s got all the qualities needed by a person placed in such a high position: leadership, intellectual capacity and experience. First of all, he well understands the oil and gas business as he had served as the CEO of IDX-listed PT Elnusa Tbk, Indonesia's largest oil and gas services company, a subsidiary of Pertamina, for many years.
When he assumed the CEO position at Elnusa in June 2011, the firm was on the brink of bankruptcy with a cash flow only enough for two months. He just discovered huge funds missing from its bank account reportedly due to the mismanagement of the then financial director. Within a short period of time he managed to turn around Elnusa from near bankruptcy to a profitable firm.
When he left the firm in May 2014, Elnusa has become a financially healthy firm with a net profit of Rp 178.2 billion in the first half of the year. People in the local business community were amazed at what he did and started giving him the nickname "Mr fix it".
Following his success at Elnusa, the government appointed him CEO of state-owned plantation firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) III, the holding company for 14 state owned plantation firms, with a total number of workers of 139,000. He was given a special task of restructuring all the state plantation firms under the holding company. State owned plantation firms are known as among the most inefficient companies in the country.
Before Elia came in, each of the firm has up to five directors, who kept on receiving handsome salary despite their firms' poor performance. In comparison, privately-owned plantation firms in the country typically only have maximum of two directors. Under Elia, the number of directors of each state plantation companies has been reduced to only two as part of restructuring measure to create efficiency. People have yet to see the fruits of his actions at the plantation firms and now he has to leave PTPN III to assume a new position at Pertamina.
When asked for comments about Elia, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Resources Luhut B. Panjaitan said President Jokowi has made a right decision by choosing Elia. "The president has chosen someone with a good track of record. I know it from the media and ? know him personally. He once worked with me,? Luhut was quoted as saying by the local media. He did not, however, explain when and where Elia worked with him. Luhut praised Elia, saying that he is an expert in corporate restructuring, is tough in character but good at heart.
Like all previous CEOs of Pertamina. Elia is tasked with a mission of turning Pertamina into a world-class company. While reaching the world-class company goal, the firm, however, should not forget its social mission of providing oil fuels to all people in Indonesia (either in the cities or jungles of Papua) at uniform prices, Jokowi recently said. (*)