Govt replaces Ridwan as Merpati's president
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines president Ridwan Fatarudin's tense waiting for a confirmation of his imminent replacement has ended.
Director General of Air Transportation Zainuddin Sikado disclosed yesterday that the finance minister, as the nominee government shareholder in all state-owned companies, has agreed to replace Ridwan Fatarudin as the chief of the subsidiary of the flag carrier Garuda Indonesia.
"The minister of finance has given his approval. I just knew it on Thursday," Sikado, who returned here on Thursday from a visit to the United States, told a hastily-convened news conference yesterday.
The management of Garuda, as Merpati's parent company, will soon appoint a successor to Ridwan, he added.
He said the decree on the appointment of the new chief of Merpati will be issued after Garuda's president Soepandi, who is accompanying President Soeharto during his current visit to the United States, returns home.
However, Sikado hastily added that "Ridwan's replacement has nothing to do with the controversy caused by his refusal to lease 16 CN-235-200 aircraft."
Speculations about Ridwan's imminent replacement were rife following his blunt announcement early last week that the airline would not lease 16 CN-235-200 aircraft from PT Arthasaka Nusaphala because they were too expensive.
His firing seemed even more certain after Minister of Transport Haryanto Dhanutirto reportedly sent a letter to the Garuda management demanding Ridwan's replacement.
But Sikado said yesterday that the plan to replace Ridwan, who assumed his top position at Merpati in 1992, has been underway for four months ago, long before he went public with his controversial statement.
"I really don't understand why Ridwan decided on the refusal while negotiations are still underway. Neither do I know what's going on with Merpati," Sikado said.
Ridwan argued that his refusal to lease the CN-235-200 aircraft was caused by the too-high fee, US$110,000 per unit a month, demanded by Arthasaka.
Moreover, he contended, the 14 CN-235-10s currently operated by Merpati have been causing the airline to lose money due to high operation costs.
According to Sikado, the 16 CN-235-200s must be leased as the government has no money to buy them. "Based on our calculation, the monthly leasing fee will reach $105,000 per aircraft."
Sikado added that other directors of Merpati--Budhiarto Subroto, Amin Kahar and Syarifudin Iteroedin -- respectively directors of operation, finance and commerce will also be replaced soon but he did not elaborate.
Informed sources at the ministry of transportation nonetheless believed that Ridwan's replacement had been prepared by Haryanto before the widely-publicized rejection of the aircraft which is made by the state-owned PT IPTN aerospace company in Bandung.
State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie is the chairman of PT IPTN, while Arthasaka which is to lease the aircraft to Merpati is owned jointly by the politically-well connected Bakrie and Humpuss business groups.
"There must be some other reasons," the sources said, citing the construction of the new Merpati building in Jakarta at a cost of Rp 50 billion (US$21.9 million) without prior approval of the ministries of transportation and finance," the sources said.(icn)