Indra Setiawan named new Garuda chief

Indra Setiawan named new Garuda chief

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government installed Indra Setiawan as the new boss of Garuda
Indonesia on Monday, ending weeks of speculation that Samudera
Sukardi, elder brother of State Minister of State Enterprises
Laksamana Sukardi, would lead the flag carrier.

The government also named Hotasi Nababan, president of GE
Lokomotif Indonesia, as the new president of state-owned Merpati
Nusantara Airlines.

Laksamana said in the inauguration ceremony that Indra was the
best choice.

He said that he had not selected Samudera, despite his fine
qualities, in order to avoid accusations of a conflict of
interest.

"... I had to give a good example, and avoid a conflict of
interest in this appointment. The decision was tough, as Samudera
is also capable of filling the post," he said.

Samudera had been widely identified by the media as the new
president of Garuda. He told reporters over the weekend that his
younger brother (Laksamana) had informed him in the middle of
last week that he had been named as the new Garuda chief, but was
later told by Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar that his
inauguration had to be postponed because the minister's
appointment letter had 'gone missing'.

Indra, who has been serving in Garuda for 25 years, and since
1997 had been acting as commercial adviser to the airline, is
seen as a neutral person for the Garuda top post because, unlike
Samudera, who is a member of Vice President Hamzah Haz's United
Development Party (PPP), the party that proposed him for the
post, he does not represent a political party.

Sources said that top executives of President Megawati
Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) had strongly opposed Samudera mainly because of his
status as a PPP member.

"I was informed by the ministry just this morning that I would
be installed as the new leader of Garuda," Indra told reporters
following the ceremony.

Indra succeeded Abdul Gani, who tendered his resignation in
January.

Both Indra and Hotasi will have a tough job helping the
airlines survive the current turbulent skies.

After completing a rescheduling deal with foreign creditors
last year, lauded by an international journal as the best
corporate finance deal in 2001, Garuda, with its fleet of 43
aircraft, is now facing an uphill struggle in competing with
regional airlines as well as with newcomers at home.

Meanwhile, Hotasi will have to prove his skill in helping to
restructure Merpati's huge debt load and survive the tough
competition in the existing domestic market.

After the government deregulated the airline industry, the
domestic skies have become crowded, with 16 airlines now having
scheduled flights. On the other hand, air passengers dropped
from 17 million in 1997 to 8 million last year.

Hotasi is not a newcomer to the airline industry, as in 1993
through 1995 he worked with Garuda, filling several strategic
posts such as vice chairman of its restructuring team.