PPD needs dissolution: A new firm welcome<\/p>\n
Soeryo Winoto, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Public transportation in Jakarta remains a perennial headache.
\nThe recent strikes by thousands of drivers and employees of the
\nstate-owned transportation company Perusahaan Pengangkutan
\nDjakarta (PPD), leaving thousands of people with no means to get
\naround town, merely compounded the headaches.<\/p>\n
Thousands of drivers parked their buses on the street,
\nmarching to the State Palace compound, demanding that their
\nsalaries be paid. They parked the buses on nearby streets,
\ncausing serious congestion, ignoring passengers who seemed
\nunaware that their basic rights for transportation had just been
\ndenied.<\/p>\n
Reports of PPD drivers and crew members taking to the streets
\ndemanding their rights have become commonplace, and yet the
\npublic and relevant government institutions, unfortunately, have
\ntaken no serious action to address the problem.<\/p>\n
In one street demonstration in 2003, PPD drivers demanded an
\nincrease in their salary, which was an average of Rp 300,000, and
\nsuggested that the debt-ridden company be dissolved due to the
\nmanagement's failure to cleanse the company of its corrupt
\nofficials.<\/p>\n
Responding to reports that the government planned to inject
\nRp 250 billion to cure the company's cancer, the drivers said
\nthat such an injection of fresh funds would be useless and that
\nthey feared the money would go straight to managers' pockets
\nwithout any clear accounting of it.<\/p>\n
It was obvious that the employees' trust in their own managers
\nhas been in peril for several years. Nonetheless, both the
\ntransportation and state enterprise ministries, which jointly
\nmanage PPD, have yet to concretely or positively respond to the
\nsituation.<\/p>\n
The government has not yet asked the public to discuss the
\nways to help PPD out of its managerial and financial
\npredicaments.<\/p>\n
If corruption has been rife in the company, which was supposed
\nto provide Jakarta residents with cheap transportation, for
\nyears, then why are the anti-corruption agencies and groups not
\ndoing anything?<\/p>\n
With not a single official, public explanation as to what has
\nreally happened to the company, the government has simply let the
\nproblems go unresolved, making it possible for further unrest
\namong the drivers and employees to erupt again. And, thus, the
\ndrivers' strikes earlier this week may well have been predicted.<\/p>\n
To fix PPD, the government seems to have two options: Handing
\nover PPD to the Jakarta administration, or inviting private
\ninvestors to take it over.<\/p>\n
Offering the Jakarta administration an option to manage the
\nmismanaged PPD was first made two years ago following the
\ndrivers' protests. Governor Sutiyoso hinted at that time that it
\nwas not possible that the Jakarta administration could take over
\nthe \"chaotic\" company, without the company resolving all its
\nproblems first. The Jakarta administration's stance has not
\nchanged.<\/p>\n
The city will obviously agree to \"accept\" PPD once the company
\nis freed from its financial burdens. And this is very
\nunderstandable.<\/p>\n
However, many may express skepticism about the
\nadministration's sincerity in accepting PPD after the company has
\nno debts. Does the administration really want to improve
\ntransportation by improving PPD, or is it just is interested in
\nPPD's abundance of assets, valued at more than Rp 360 billion?<\/p>\n
Given that the city administration's track record in managing
\nits own companies is far from impressive, it is doubtful that PPD
\nwould be better managed by the Jakarta administration. The fact
\nthat many of Jakarta's assets have been sold to private firms
\nalso indicates the administration's inability to manage what
\nshould be profit-oriented companies.<\/p>\n
Then what about the second choice? Private investors,
\nnaturally, would be extra careful before putting money into such
\na poorly managed company, where corruption has become rife. Most
\nwould probably see investing in PPD like pouring a pail of water
\nonto a desert.<\/p>\n
Dealing with PPD's problems will be complicated and very
\ncostly. The government has no other option but to bear all the
\nconsequences. Cleansing the company of all its corrupt and
\nunscrupulous staffers appears to be impossible, however,
\ndissolving the company and dismissing all the employees would be
\nthe best choice. A new company should be set up to replace (old)
\nPPD to make it possible for the investors to own a company with a
\nnew, fresh and healthy atmosphere. The 5,000 laid off employees
\nof (old) PPD would given the opportunity to enter the new company
\n(new PPD - or whatever its name) on the condition that they
\npassed serious screening process.<\/p>\n
Political will must exist to make all this happen. Only under
\nnew management will a new PPD be able to serve the public with
\nbetter transportation and, expectedly, reap profits at the same
\ntime.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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