{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1424962,
        "msgid": "ulterior-motive-1447893297",
        "date": "1999-02-26 00:00:00",
        "title": "Ulterior motive?",
        "author": null,
        "source": "",
        "tags": null,
        "topic": null,
        "summary": "Ulterior motive? From Merdeka State-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom successfully posted a big profit of trillions of rupiah in the 1997\/1998 fiscal year. The company has also stated publicly that telecommunications rates in Indonesia are relatively low compared with other countries, ignoring comparisons of the per capita income in Indonesia with the other countries. Now Telkom has raised its rates, retroactive to Feb. 1, despite comments by Telkom's officers referred to above.",
        "content": "<p>Ulterior motive?<\/p>\n<p>From Merdeka<\/p>\n<p>State-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom successfully<br>\nposted a big profit of trillions of rupiah in the 1997\/1998<br>\nfiscal year. The company has also stated publicly that<br>\ntelecommunications rates in Indonesia are relatively low compared<br>\nwith other countries, ignoring comparisons of the per capita<br>\nincome in Indonesia with the other countries.<\/p>\n<p>Now Telkom has raised its rates, retroactive to Feb. 1,<br>\ndespite comments by Telkom&apos;s officers referred to above. The new<br>\ntariff of zone III, for example, is now Rp 1,545 per minute, an<br>\nincrease of 3,196.55 percent per minute over the old rate of Rp<br>\n145 for three minutes. Of course, Telkom may raise the rates but<br>\nit must give plausible arguments for the move and also be<br>\ntransparent about the increase. It is strange that the tariff<br>\nincrease on April 1, 1998, was discussed at the Telkom<br>\nheadquarters and not in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>Now where did legislators, the government and Telkom officials<br>\ndiscuss the Feb. 1 tariff increase?<\/p>\n<p>Cases of illegal use of customer telephone lines, rampant in<br>\nthe late 1970s and 1980s, have never been brought to court. The<br>\ncommunity remains suspicious that Telkom employees and officials<br>\nand private or government companies conspired in the matter, or<br>\nthat certain Telkom employees or officials were individually<br>\ninvolved to cover for the funds they siphoned off. Maybe relevant<br>\nare Law No. 5\/1964 on telecommunications and Law No. 3\/1998 --<br>\nparticularly the first and second clauses of Article 36 on<br>\nillegal use of a telephone line which states a penalty of four<br>\nyears in jail or Rp 40 million fine.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the problem can be solved by using a meter system<br>\nlike the one adopted by the state electricity company PLN. The<br>\ncharges incurred on the installation of a telephone meter may be<br>\njointly borne by a customer and Telkom, or perhaps by Telkom<br>\nalone. Spending money on the telephone meter installation would<br>\nbe much better than having to spend money on telephone bills made<br>\nmuch higher because of unknown and untraceable reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Even the late Soesilo Soedarman, former minister of tourism,<br>\npost and telecommunications, once suggested the adoption of the<br>\nmeter system, a practice he learned about during his tenure as<br>\nIndonesian envoy in the United States. Unfortunately, rampant<br>\npractices of corruption, collusion and nepotism during the New<br>\nOrder era never allowed his excellent idea to materialize.<\/p>\n<p>HERLINA<\/p>\n<p>Jakarta<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ulterior-motive-1447893297",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}