Government replaces PLN's commissioners

The Office of the Sate Minister of State Enterprises surprisingly replaced on Friday the chief commissioner and independent commissioner of the state owned electricity company PLN.

The chief commissioner Luluk Sumiarso, who is also the director general of electricity and energy utilization at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resoruces, was replaced by Andung Nitimihardja, an expert staff of the Minister of State Enterprises, while independent commissioner Muhammad Iksan was replaced by Lufti Hamid, an executive of the Indonesian Badminton Association.

"The replacement of the two commissioners was made to ensure that the board of directors management would be able to do their job without pressure from other party," Roes Aryawidjaya, a deputy to Minister of State Enterprises said.

The replacement of the two members of PLN's board of commissioners broke the long-held tradition in which the position of the chief commissioner was always filled by the director general of electricity and energy at the ministry of energy and mineral resources.

The replacement was made amid the friction between Luluk and PLN's board of management over policy related to the electricity tariffs. Luluk has publicly opposed PLN's plan to increase the electricity tariff. (godang)