Holiday allowance for legislators

Holiday allowance for legislators

In line with the steps of Indonesia's reform across all
fields, we feel we have acquired the courage to comment on
matters related to members of the House of Representatives (DPR)
as follows:

Early in December 2000 PT (Persero) Angkasa Pura II received
visitors from Commission IV of the DPR which is in charge of
Communication Affairs. With careful preparation we welcomed the
honorable legislators and naturally expressed our grudges with an
expectation that they be forwarded to the DPR for the purpose of
helping state enterprises in general, particularly PT (Persero)
Angkasa Pura II.

Following the official meeting, the honorable legislators were
to return to the DPR building. But at the end of the meeting we
were astounded when the visiting legislators indicated to us that
we were expected to give them some form of holiday allowance
(popularly known as THR). Reluctantly our finance director tried
to give them the said "THR".

Not long afterwards, on Dec. 21, 2000 Commission IV of the DPR
made another visit to Soekarno-Hatta airport, this time to the
main branch office. This visit was similar to the previous one
and its goal was not clear. The visit's outline was aimed at
seeing how far advanced our preparation was for the privatization
of the Soekarno-Hatta airport. But the questions and discussions
were not focused on the plan indicated. More conspicuous was that
at the end of the visit the visiting Commission through its
protocol officer again indicated that a sort of "THR" be given to
all the members of Commission IV. Eventually the request was
fulfilled by the Branch Office head with some reluctance.

The two visits made us think that the attitude and conduct of
the current DPR is similar to, or the same as, that of the New
Order era. An "invisible cost" or tribute still applies, and it
must still be made available. It is difficult to know what would
happen were these requests not fulfilled. Whereas PT (Persero)
Angkasa Pura II's Board of Directors and the heads of branches
and their staff always demand honesty and hard work to eradicate
the practice of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), these
legislators appear not to follow our example. To meet the
legislators' request we have to create an "engineering" of
spending, because we cannot possibly create an expenditure
account called "THR" for legislators. If the conditions are as I
have mentioned, how can we run a state-owned enterprise committed
to contributing to society by boosting the economy of the state
and nation?

So far PT (Persero) Angkasa Pura II with its structural
organization has tried to do its best to run this state-owned
enterprise correctly, and this can be proven by the level of
profits it has gained of which it is proud.

With this letter we hope to appeal to all competent
authorities that they overcome such malpractices. The board of
directors and heads of branches are prepared to be replaced if
they are considered incapable of running this state-owned
enterprise.

Don't let us be conditioned to meet the desires and needs of
the Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Finance, development
and financial control board, DPR and other institutions. We
always work professionally to try to completely wipe out KKN
practices in any shape or form.

We hope this letter will receive a positive response and
follow up from competent authorities.

JONI SUTJAHJONO

Jakarta