Alleged corruption brings airline down to earth
Alleged corruption brings airline down to earth
Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru,Riau
Regular flights by PT Riau Airlines (RAL) came to a standstill on
Tuesday as eleven of its 12 pilots went on strike in a protest
against alleged corruption on the part of the company's managing
director, Capt. Yunus Bachri.
Stewardesses and dozens of other employees also took part in
the strike, demanding that Riau Governor Rusli Zainal, as the
company's chief commissioner, dismiss Yunus from his post. Yunus
is also a pilot with the airline, and remains at work.
The demand was conveyed by the protesting pilots and 54 of the
62 other PT RAL employees during a meeting with the governor at
his office in the Riau capital, Pekanbaru.
They told the governor that they would halt scheduled flights
until such time as their demand was heeded, but would continue to
serve charter flights.
The chairman of the company's Workers Communication Forum
(FKK), Capt. Sogi Prakoso, said the strike started on Tuesday and
that the governor and other commissioners would be given until
Thursday to consider the employees' demands.
"If the deadline to suspend or fire Yunus Bachri as the
managing director is not met, we will also stop serving charter
flights," he said.
PT RAL, established a year ago by the local administration,
has two Fokker 50 planes providing scheduled flights from Riau to
outside the province. It was not clear how many planes the
company serving charter flights.
The protesters accused Yunus of failing to avail of business
opportunities that could have boosted the one-year-old airlines
prospects.
These included his failure to forge business ventures with two
of the airline's own commissioners -- the Bengkalis and Indragiri
Hulu regents -- in providing air transportation to these two Riau
regencies.
Bengkalis instead chose Sabang Merauke Air Charter (SMAC) to
provide flights between Sei Pakning and Pekanbaru, while
Indragiri Hulu opted for Asia Avia to provide flights between
Pekanbaru and Palembang.
Other shortcomings blamed on the director included the failure
to win a concession to fly Muslims pilgrims from the industrial
island of Batam to Pekanbaru before leaving for Mecca, Saudi
Arabia.
"During the haj season in 2003, PT RAL managed to carry up to
4,000 pilgrims, but this year we only transported 200 people as
most of the pilgrims were flown by Lion Air," Sogi said.
The protesters also alleged that Yunus had Rp 1 billion
(US$117,647) transferred from the company to his personnel
account.
"The money should have been used to arrange the company's
Commercial Airline Permit and Aircraft Operator's Certificate
(AOC)," Sogi said.