"This is a pleasant surprise," House Speaker Ade Komarudin said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - House Speaker Ade Komarudin hailed the appointment of Ignasius Jonan and Arcandra Tahar as the new Minister and Deputy Minister, respectively, of Energy and Mineral Resources.

"This is a pleasant surprise," he said at the Presidential Palace grounds here on Friday after the two were sworn in by President Joko Widodo.

He reiterated that he was well aware of the capacity and capability of Ignasius Jonan and hailed his performance as a Minister of Transportation earlier.

He noted that he had learned of Jonans good track record while he was president director of state railway company, PT Kereta Api.

"His legacy will never wane and will last a lifetime. PT KA made progress under his watch. He has been entrusted to lead in the field of energy," he commented.

Ade said Jonan also had just the right partner in Arcandra Taher as deputy minister.

"Arcandra, who is to assist him, has a grasp on technical aspects and is a good intellectual. I am optimistic that the energy sector will be managed very well under the two," he stressed.

The House Speaker said there will be no problem on account of the fact that Jonan was sacked as Minister of Transportation or that Arcandra was let go as Minister of Energy because of a row over his citizenship.

"I think these factors will not pose any problem. I have always said that we need to learn from the IPTN (aircraft producer) case. Many smart people were sent abroad to study but when they returned, the IPTN declined due to a political issue. So while they studied and we paid the cost, they became foreign citizens. Let us not allow it to happen again. Arcandra Tahar is a state asset, and he has the capacity in this field. Let us deal with all these issues together," he noted.

He said the issue of citizenship was also important, besides competency. "We have dealt with the citizenship issue and it is not a problem (anymore)," the politician from Golkar Party underlined.

Arcandra was sacked by the Minister of Energy because of a row over his citizenship.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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