Give KAI new managment a chance: Govt

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State Minister for State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi urged employees of the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) to give the newly-appointed board of directors a chance to prove their capabilities.

He also said that the selection process for the new management team had been done in a transparent manner.

"It is not fair to ask them (new management team) to step down right now. We must give them the opportunity to prove their capabilities," Laksamana told reporters on Friday.

His statement came following threats from KAI's labor union to hold go on strike and halt trains in Java and Sumatra starting Monday if the new top officials did not tender their resignations by the Sunday midnight deadline.

The union rejected the six-member board of directors because four of them had been recruited from within the company and were responsible for past mismanagement which led to several deadly train collisions last year and the resignation of the previous management team.

Laksamana said that he would continue to hold discussions with KAI's employees, especially with front line staff.

Separately, Vice president Hamzah Haz also asked KAI employees to give the new management team between 6 and 12 months to prove their capabilities.

"If the new management does not perform, the government can always reevaluate (its decision)," he said.

The six directors installed on Wednesday are Omar Berto as president, Syahrizal Siregar as technical director, Juda Sitepu as operations director, Masjrahul Hidayat as director of human resources, Imam Pamudji as director of finance and Edward Bosi Mardohat as director of business development.

The first four were recruited from within the company.

Meanwhile, KAI's labor union maintained its threat on Friday. "We'll do it whatever the risk. If one of us get fired, his colleagues will resign," said union secretary-general Amin Abdurrachman.

However, the threat to halt trains seemed to get a cool response from KAI workers on the ground.

"We don't want to keep quarreling. The (recent) train accidents have made us embarrassed, and a all-out strike would only embarrass us more ... What is now important is to give the best service to the public," said a locomotive driver in Bandung, West Java, the home-base of KAI, who asked for anonymity.

KAI's labor union branch in Semarang, Central Java, also does not approve of the plan to halt trains.

The head of the Semarang union, J. Pallupesy, said that what his fellow workers would do in protest against the new management team was to hold a peaceful rally.

He said that if the government failed to respond in "a good way," the workers would only create a 60-minute delay in the train schedule.