Majari Magazine

Sesep: January’s Author of The Month

by Majari on 07/02/08 at 1:52 pm | No Comment | |

Sesep Bimiwa Geopold Sianturi is January’s Author of the Month with his opinion in the article “Pertamina vs Petronas“ with 1144 views, 21 comments, and rating of 4.35.

And anyway, here is a brief interview with him.

Majari: “Hi, Sesep! Congratulations for being the January’s Author of The Month! Any surprise?”
Sesep: “Oh yeah?? Of course I am glad and I appreciate it very much..”

Majari: “Yes, you are. You article has made a lot of traffic until now. It’s one of most favorite article in Majari last month. Anyway, can you tell us once more, what was the final conclusion of your opinion about slow Pertamina growth compared to Malaysia’s Petronas?”
Sesep: “OK, I’ll try to answer this briefly. Basically there are technical and non-technical problems that influence the slow growth of Pertamina compared to Malaysia’s Petronas. I am not capable of answering the details about the negative sides of Pertamina but I think the government should cooperate well with Pertamina to help them solving their problems. We are as Indonesian people can also participate in many ways to help Pertamina.”

Majari: “So, what do you mean with the terms technical and non-technical problems? Are the uncooperative government regulations included in the non-technical problems?”
Sesep: “OK, maybe examples could make it clear. According to the source that I read, the profit sharing between Pertamina and the Indonesian government is 10:90; 10% for Pertamina and 90% for the government. The average yearly profit of Pertamina is about 27 billion rupiahs and only 2.7 billion goes to Pertamina. And, this is one simple example, do you know that they need at least 13 billion rupiahs to build a new refinery? And let’s do the math: they can only build a new refinery once in 5 years if they use all of the profits. That’s the technical problem, this is contrary to Malaysia’s Petronas because only 10% of their profit that goes to the Malaysian government. And about the non-technical problems; one of non-technical problem is BP MIGAS. BP MIGAS is starting to give trusts to foreign oil and gas companies to manage the fields in Indonesia. We can see ExxonMobil is managing the Cepu Block (oilfield) and BP is managing the Tangguh Field (gas field). And why are they doing that? Well, it will be a very long argument if we discuss about their reasons. Take a look at my article and you will know why.”

Majari: “That’s very interesting. But don’t you think that the problem is way too complex? And can you think of any other factors beside profit-sharing and BP MIGAS trust that has been influencing the slow growth of Pertamina?”
Sesep: “Do you mean the corruption activity like most of the people and media say?”

Majari: “Exactly, doesn’t it make everything worse if they conduct any corruption activities while the profit is already small in amount?”
Sesep: “Hahaha, you naked me straight to the point. It’s true I guess, everyone knows that corruption sucks. But again, it’s not my capability to explain that in details.”

Majari: “Yes, maybe just let us hand the problem to whom it may concern. Hehehe.. And, you’ve mentioned that we, as Indonesian citizens, can also help Pertamina to grow. So, can you tell us some examples that we can do?”
Sesep: “Nice question.. Ideally, we can be Pertamina’s employee and work there with the motivation to help Pertamina. But it doesn’t mean that we will not be able to help Pertamina if we aren’t their employee. One example is to try preferring Pertamina’s products to others or go to Pertamina’s Gas Stations to fill the gas for our cars and motorcycles. It is very simple but helpful.”

Majari: “Hmm.. that’s a good point. And what do you think about Pertamina in the future? Will they be better?”
Sesep: “I hope so.. If they can take care of their problems, they will be better. The government and BP MIGAS should also support Pertamina to solve all the problems there. I myself will be proud if Pertamina can improve their capability. Will you?”

Majari: “Definitely, we all should be proud of our own products and services, including Pertamina. And about the prize, what will you do about that?”
Sesep: “Are there any prizes?? Hahhaha, just kidding.. Hmm.. don’t even think about that yet. Watching movies, food hunting, etc. Just like everyone does to have fun, I guess. Hehehe. ”

Majari: “Yeah right! We guess there is zero probability that you forgot about the prize. Hahaha.. Anyway, Thank you for your time, Sesep! Hope to read another interesting articles from you! Any info about you next article?”
Sesep: “My next article?? Hmmm, it’s confidential.. Hahaha, just wait for my surprise.. Ok, thanks for majarikanayakan.com and also the commentators in my article. I really appreciate you all very much. Big sucess for majarikanayakan.com!”

Congratulations, Sesep! And is it today the Chinese’s new year? It must be really great to have angpou even if you are not celebrating the new year at all.

And, whose turn next? Submit your articles and let the comments flow!

Salam Majari Kanayakan.