Elvyn to lead Jamsostek amid board reshuffle

JAKARTA. State occupational insurance firm PT Jamsostek’s investment director Elvyn G. Masassya will replace Hotbonar Sinaga as the firm’s president director this week in the latest shake-up of a state enterprise’s board of directors.

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said on Tuesday that Elvyn had been appointed as the new Jamsostek chief because of the former banker’s expertise in managing the state insurer’s investment since his appointment as the investment director in December 2008.

Elvyn, who could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, is an alumnus of the Jayabaya University’s School of Economics in Jakarta and holds a master’s degree in financial management from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in Bandung, West Java. The 45-year-old economist previously served as a former commissioner of PT Bank Bali, director of the publicly listed PT Bank Permata, corporate secretary of the state-owned PT Bank Negara Indonesia, and as the director of PT Tuban Petrochemical Industries.

Dahlan, who abruptly replaced the president director of the state-owned carrier Merpati Nusantara Airlines earlier this year, added that he was set to sign the decree on Elvyn’s appointment on Wednesday.

“The tenure for several members in the Jamsostek’s board of directors is coming to an end,” Dahlan told reporters in Jakarta, declining to elaborate further. “Besides, the company is in need of young blood.”

Other managing directors of PT Jamsostek include planning, development and information director Myra SR Asnar, human resources director HD Suyono, operations and services director Djoko Sungkono, director of membership Ahmad Ansyori and financial director Karsanto.

Separately, Deputy State-Owned Enterprises Minister for Service Industry Parikesit Suprapto confirmed the ministry was planning to restructure the state insurer’s board of directors this week.

He said that Hotbonar Sinaga was to be replaced by the latter’s younger colleague because his tenure was coming to an end. Hotbonar, 63, was appointed as Jamsostek’s chief for the second time in 2007.

Jamsostek, which invests heavily in time deposits, bonds and the stock market, has set aside up to Rp 125.7 trillion (US$13.42 billion) to invest in a number of instrument products this year, with the aim of providing the company Rp 12.2 trillion in net income by the end of 2012 despite the current economic crisis.

This year’s net income target is 3.2 percent higher than the Rp 11.8 trillion in total income it booked in 2011 with invested funds totaling nearly Rp 114.8 trillion.

Contacted separately, capital market observer Yanuar Rizky told The Jakarta Post the move to appoint Elvyn, who he saw as Hotbonar’s sidekick, as the new Jamsostek chief indicated the government was planning to transform the state insurer into a financial firm instead.

“One of the challenges that Elvyn must overcome is the fact that despite the fact that Jamsostek has been managing funds that were mandated by law, the company has yet to become a market maker in terms of managing its funds. This is due to the fact that there are still a lot of inefficiencies within Jamsostek thanks to its internal bureaucracy and political pressures,” he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Rieke Dyah Pitaloka, a member of House of Representatives’ Commission IX overseeing labor, health and social affairs, told the Post in a text-message that the new board of directors of Jamsostek must not be profit-oriented and focus on social security instead. (The Jakarta Post)