Govt considers sabotage as cause of train crash
Govt considers sabotage as cause of train crash
JAKARTA (JP): Following rumors of railway tracks in Central
Java being tampered with, Minister of Communications Agum Gumelar
instructed on Friday an investigation into the possibility of
sabotage being behind a train collision last Monday.
"We are investigating the possibility of sabotage being
involved in Monday's train collision. If there are questions
about the possibility, it is possible," Agum said as quoted by
Antara after speaking at the launch of a free Internet service
provider, Linknet.
A report, filed by an official at state railway company PT
Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) for the Central Java area, claims
that an iron bar had been placed across a railway track in
somewhere Central Java. The episode has led to speculation of
similar incidents being the cause of train accidents.
The minister said he had just received the report and that the
local police had arrested the suspects behind the ploy. He,
however, did not mention the number of the suspects.
Later on Friday afternoon, Agum announced he had asked an
independent team of the Committee for National Transportation
Safety to investigate the latest train accident.
"The Ministry of Communications and House of Representatives
(DPR) Commission IV on infrastructure and transportation affairs
have agreed that the committee, which was established through
Presidential Decree No. 105/1999, will conduct a thorough
investigation into the accident," he said after attending a
closed meeting with Commission IV members.
"We did not set a time limit for the team. But it is expected
it will be able to reveal the truth behind the accident, although
the preliminary report said it was caused by human error," he
added.
He said no government officials were on the team, which will
be led by transportation expert Prof. Utario Diran.
Agum officially apologized to all parties over Monday's head-
on collision between two trains at Bumi Serpong Damai housing
complex in Serpong. The accident claimed four lives and injured
37 passengers.
He said nobody, including the government, had suspected such
an accident could happen.
To date the accident has been blamed on human error, together
with signal transmission defects and serious damage to PT KAI's
central traffic control (CTC) system in Manggarai, South Jakarta,
The damage at CTC occurred last Friday when lightning struck
the CTC office.
Resign
Asked about the resignation of director general of land
transportation Santo Budiono, Agum said he had reported the
matter to President Abdurrahman Wahid.
The minister, however, declined to mention Santo's successor.
Speaking about PT KAI's president director Edie Haryoto's
offer to resign, the minister said it would be decided at a
company shareholders meeting whether to accept or reject his
resignation.
"A month after the proposed resignation, the company should
hold a shareholders meeting to decide on the matter," he said.
"If the company fails to set a meeting within a month, then
the resignation is automatically accepted."
When asked about mounting pressure that he also resign from
his ministerial post, Agum said: "I'm just the President's aide.
It is, therefore, up to the President to decide. For me, it would
be no problem at all." (jun/asa)