Riau Governor told not to heed President's instruction over CPP
Saturday, January 6 2001 - 05:00 AM WIB
The board of experts of the Riau Province called on the provincial Governor to ignore the instruction of President Abdurrahman Wahid for Riau to accept a 20 percent interest in the Coastal Plain Pekanbaru (CPP) oil field, the local Riau Post daily reported.
Head of the board of experts Muchtar Ahmad insisted that Riau should have a much greater stake in the CPP oil field.
"There's no need for the Governor to follow the instruction of President Abdurrahman Wahid," Muchtar said.
The paper said that Abdurrahman met with Riau Governor Saleh Djasit recently in Jakarta to discuss the problem related to the CPP issue. The paper said that in the meeting the President insisted Riau to accept a 20 percent stake in CPP.
The Riau people has demanded a majority stake in CPP after PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia ends its contract over the oil field in August this year.
But the government has said that it planned to let Caltex to resume management over the CPP together with the state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina because Caltex had the necessary capital, technology and expertise.
Meanwhile, Riau Governor Saleh said that he welcomed that the recommendation of the board of experts, but as past of the government apparatus he must also consider the suggestion of the President.
"The decision of the President must be carried out and I have talked it over with the (local) Parliament Speaker," Saleh said, adding that the 20 percent stake was "good enough."(*)