Habibie, colleague defend IPTN
Habibie, colleague defend IPTN
By Dwi Atmanta
MEDAN (JP): State Minister of Research and Technology B.J.
Habibie and his assistant Sofian Effendi defended the state-owned
aircraft manufacturer PT IPTN yesterday from criticism that it
only served Habibie's personal ambitions and had failed to find a
market.
Habibie denied having a personal ambition in regard to
Indonesia's aircraft policy and said he was just fulfilling the
expectations of the country's founding fathers.
Addressing an ongoing seminar on the development of social
scientists here yesterday, Habibie said Indonesia's decision to
build the aircraft factory in Bandung, West Java, two decades ago
had been taken under the late first president Sukarno.
"The government at that time pledged to develop both
aeronautic and maritime technology," Habibie said in his paper
read by his assistant Sofian Effendi.
Habibie praised the founding fathers' vision which had led
them to choose advanced technology in order to prevent the
country from becoming dependent on other countries in the future.
"Indonesia has now emerged as one of only eight countries in
the world that has managed to produce high-technology commercial
aircraft. In addition, Indonesia is the only Asian country to do
so," Habibie said.
Dubbed "super-minister," Habibie is president of IPTN as well
as nine other state-owned companies under the Indonesian
Strategic Industry Board.
Sofian, Habibie's assistant on policy formulation, regretted
the aircraft industry had become a laughing stock, even among top
echelon officials who say that IPTN has failed to obtain its
market.
"It's obvious that people do not have pride in our own
products," he said.
IPTN (Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara) launched its newest
product, the CN-235 aircraft last year. Last October, IPTN signed
a financing agreement with PT Dua Satu Tiga Puluh, set up by
President Soeharto in his personal capacity, for the production
of Indonesia's first passenger jet.
Under the agreement, DSTP would provide US$2 billion for IPTN
to design, develop and produce two prototypes of the N-2130
passenger jet and obtain at least three international
certificates for the aircraft, including from the U.S. and Japan.
The N-2130, which is the second airplane to be designed and
engineered entirely in Indonesia, is scheduled to enter the
market by 2005.
Habibie said that Indonesia could no longer rely on
agriculture but had to develop advanced technology because rice
would not generate enough profit.
"Profit will help us provide enough jobs even though our
population continues to grow," he said.
Habibie denied the government would neglect agriculture as
Indonesia marched toward a fully industrialized economy.
"The government wants people to enjoy a better life, and we
won't have the opportunities to push agriculture in the future
due to its shortcomings which are beyond our reach," he said. He
did not elaborate the weaknesses of the agricultural industry.
Another speaker, sociologist Nasikun of Yogyakarta's Gadjah
Mada University, warned that technology would only cause a
catastrophe in the future if scientists were not committed to
improving human dignity.
"Scientists should choose enlightening, liberating and
humanizing technology," he said, adding that such choice of
technology would require democratic deliberations.
Nasikun admitted that Marxist sociologists were the first to
criticize scientists who introduced technology for the benefit of
only the upper class and not the whole of society.
Nasikun suggested that as the new century was drawing near,
Indonesian scientists should serve as "spokespersons of
humankind," to develop science and technology to reach the whole
of a just, free and wealthy society.
"Scientists should pay more attention to the poor and those
who fall prey to and are alienated by development," he said.