Ferry tragedy

Ferry tragedy

From Media Indonesia

According to the Minister of Transportation's official report
to the House of Representatives, the KMP Gurita which sank at the
sea between Sabang and Banda Aceh, was not overloaded. The
manifest reported that there were only 210 passengers aboard
while the capacity of the ferry was 220 and could tolerate an
excess of 10 percent of the number.

An investigation proved, by looking at the list of places of
residence of the passengers from Sabang, that the number of
passengers was much higher than the capacity of the boat. There
might have been more than 300 people on board. It also found
names of victims not included in the manifest.

These irregularities are endemic on Indonesian ferries. In
Merak, for example, ticket purchasers are never listed. Therefore
in a disaster it would impossible to identify the victims.

The Ministry of Transportation is responsible for this
disaster. The minister of transportation needs to formally
rectify his report to the House of the Representatives and give a
definite number of casualties, to avoid the impression that the
real number of casualties is being hidden.

Set up an independent team to investigate the sinking of KMP
Gurita. The team must uncover all the mistakes by individuals,
especially of ministry employees. The people responsible for the
sinking of KMP Gurita must be removed from their posts, and
prosecuted in court for the crime. This is necessary to teach all
Transportation Ministry employees and people at other ministries
to do their jobs properly, especially when their jobs concern the
lives of others.

Preventive action should be taken by supervising all ferries
in Indonesia to prevent overloading. The sailing permits should
be issued more carefully. The names of all passengers needed to
be listed, not difficult to do in the age of computers.

SUHARSONO HADIKUSUMO

Jakarta