Ministry asks Gatari to return its helicopters

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry and Plantations has demanded that PT Gatari, an air charter company owned by former president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra return the ministry's eight helicopters by the end of this year, a senior official said.

The ministry's secretary-general, Oetomo, said on Friday that Gatari had agreed to return five of the helicopters later this month.

The returned helicopters will be kept at the Atang Senjaya Air Base in Bogor, West Java, he said.

The remaining three helicopters cannot be returned immediately because Gatari had leased them to other companies, he said.

"But the three choppers should be returned no later than the end of this year," he said

The Ministry of Forestry and Plantations has terminated its contracts with Tommy's Gatari as part of the government's campaign to eliminate business dealings with companies owned by the children of former president Soeharto and his friends.

Many of the deals were obtained largely as a result of political connections, and not through competitive bidding.

The ministry will employ Air Force personnel to fly the helicopters.

Oetomo said that in the 1989/1990 fiscal year, the ministry bought 12 helicopters from state aircraftmaker PT Industry Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN), comprising 11 NBO 102 helicopters and one fixed wing Skyliner helicopter, aimed at improving the ministry's operations.

Two of the helicopters were given to the National Police, one crashed in 1991 and the remaining one is in use at the Atang Senjaya Air Base.

In 1991, the ministry signed a contract with Gatari to jointly operate the helicopters.

Oetomo said there was no specific explanation as to why the ministry chose Gatari to operate its helicopter.

"Initially, the reason was to operate the helicopters more efficiently and effectively, but actually it is not efficient and not effective at all," Oetomo said.

Oetomo said that employing Air Force personnel to operate and handle the maintenance would be cheaper than using Gatari.

He added that the ministry was considering selling some of the helicopters. (gis)