Alleged corruption brings airline down to earth<\/p>\n
Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru,Riau<\/p>\n
Regular flights by PT Riau Airlines (RAL) came to a standstill on
\nTuesday as eleven of its 12 pilots went on strike in a protest
\nagainst alleged corruption on the part of the company's managing
\ndirector, Capt. Yunus Bachri.<\/p>\n
Stewardesses and dozens of other employees also took part in
\nthe strike, demanding that Riau Governor Rusli Zainal, as the
\ncompany's chief commissioner, dismiss Yunus from his post. Yunus
\nis also a pilot with the airline, and remains at work.<\/p>\n
The demand was conveyed by the protesting pilots and 54 of the
\n62 other PT RAL employees during a meeting with the governor at
\nhis office in the Riau capital, Pekanbaru.<\/p>\n
They told the governor that they would halt scheduled flights
\nuntil such time as their demand was heeded, but would continue to
\nserve charter flights.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the company's Workers Communication Forum
\n(FKK), Capt. Sogi Prakoso, said the strike started on Tuesday and
\nthat the governor and other commissioners would be given until
\nThursday to consider the employees' demands.<\/p>\n
\"If the deadline to suspend or fire Yunus Bachri as the
\nmanaging director is not met, we will also stop serving charter
\nflights,\" he said.<\/p>\n
PT RAL, established a year ago by the local administration,
\nhas two Fokker 50 planes providing scheduled flights from Riau to
\noutside the province. It was not clear how many planes the
\ncompany serving charter flights.<\/p>\n
The protesters accused Yunus of failing to avail of business
\nopportunities that could have boosted the one-year-old airlines
\nprospects.<\/p>\n
These included his failure to forge business ventures with two
\nof the airline's own commissioners -- the Bengkalis and Indragiri
\nHulu regents -- in providing air transportation to these two Riau
\nregencies.<\/p>\n
Bengkalis instead chose Sabang Merauke Air Charter (SMAC) to
\nprovide flights between Sei Pakning and Pekanbaru, while
\nIndragiri Hulu opted for Asia Avia to provide flights between
\nPekanbaru and Palembang.<\/p>\n
Other shortcomings blamed on the director included the failure
\nto win a concession to fly Muslims pilgrims from the industrial
\nisland of Batam to Pekanbaru before leaving for Mecca, Saudi
\nArabia.<\/p>\n
\"During the haj season in 2003, PT RAL managed to carry up to
\n4,000 pilgrims, but this year we only transported 200 people as
\nmost of the pilgrims were flown by Lion Air,\" Sogi said.<\/p>\n
The protesters also alleged that Yunus had Rp 1 billion
\n(US$117,647) transferred from the company to his personnel
\naccount.<\/p>\n
\"The money should have been used to arrange the company's
\nCommercial Airline Permit and Aircraft Operator's Certificate
\n(AOC),\" Sogi said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/alleged-corruption-brings-airline-down-to-earth-1447893297",
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