ESDM Minister Sudirman Said gave a strong message to the newly appointed Administrator of Oil and Gas Upstream Special Taskforce (SKK Migas) chief, Amien Sunaryadi. During a ceremony, in which he officially handed over the position of SKK Migas head to Amien, the minister asked Amien to introduce changes at the agency.

“Enough is enough. Let us play the new game. The oil and gas sector is too important for us. We need to solve anything improper (policies and practices),” Sudirman said in the ceremony, which was attended by top officials of SKK Migas, parliament members and top oil and gas company leaders.

One of these “improper” practices was in the form of three large and luxurious halls at the headquarter of SKK Migas where many senior officials have been implicated in high-profile bribery cases.

The three rooms are located at Wisma Mulia Building in South Jakarta and of size 1,000 square meters, each. “I have never used these rooms,” said Mahendra Siregar, former head of Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), as quoted in detik.com

As BKPM head, Mahendra was a member of SKK Migas’ supervisory committee, along with Minister and Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), and Vice Minister of Finance. As the committee normally holds meetings in much smaller rooms, he suggested that the three huge rooms can be converted for more productive purposes.

SKK Migas was formed in 2013 to replace the reportedly less effective Upstream Oil and Gas Agency (BP Migas). It functions to give advice to ESDM minister, to sign cooperation contracts (KKS) and to monitor KKS implementation as well as to appoint sellers of the state oil and gas products.

Former SKK Migas chief Rudi Ribiandini has been given seven years in prison after being found of guilty of corruption and money laundering. Meanwhile, former ESDM Minister, Jero Wacik, is now in detention on various corruption charges and is suspected to be part of the Rudi’s case.

Source: Detik.com