Aircraft maker boss faces jail after court turns down appaeal

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

President director of aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI), Edwin Soedarmo, could no longer escape justice after his appeal was turned down by the Bandung District Court on Thursday.

The appeal was a last ditch effort by Edwin, who was earlier sentenced by the same court to two months in jail for negligence in January this year. Following the verdict at the lower court, Edwin filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to fight the verdict, but the appeal was rejected because the Supreme Court will not rule on a case in which a defendant is sentenced to less than a year in jail. The case was, however, sent back to the district court for a decision on the appeal, which it rejected.

"The district court rejected the appeal on the grounds that the defendant had been proven guilty of disobeying orders from the Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes," said judge Marni Mustafa while reading the verdict. The second reason, the judge added, was because the defendant never appeared in court, which showed disrespect.

Soon after the decision was read out, some 800 former workers at the aircraft company cheered and hugged each other to express their joy over the verdict.

The prolonged dispute began on Jan. 14 this year after the district court sentenced the president director for failing to obey an order from the Committee for the Settlement of the Labor Disputes, which instructed Edwin to pay severance pay to thousands of former PTDI workers, totaling approximately Rp 400 billion (US$40.8 million). However, the company never paid the money as ordered by the committee, which led the workers to report Edwin to the legal authorities.

Over 6,500 PTDI workers were laid off last year due to the company's financial troubles, which triggered a prolonged labor dispute. More than 5,700 workers accepted the layoff, while the remaining 800 workers rejected it and filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.

With the verdict by the Bandung District Court, it is up to the police and prosecutor's office to execute the verdict.

Secretary to PTDI, Mohtar Syarief, said that the verdict was unfair. The district court should not have been able to come to a verdict in the absence of the defendant, he argued.