New management at Merpati

New management at Merpati

On Friday, Dr. Budiarto Subroto was inaugurated as chief
director of the government-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines
(MNA), replacing Ridwan Fataruddin. Budiarto's inauguration puts
an end to the controversy which has drawn many reactions from the
public, including from people who know little about the
complexities of managing this domestic airline which for some
time has been beset with problems.

The matter has acquired far-reaching ramifications since the
explanation given to the public by the former management appeared
to focus only on the negotiations over the leasing of 16 CN-235
aircraft from PT Artasaka Nusphala, which failed, it was said,
because "the price asked was too high".

President Soeharto, when asked about the matter by reporters,
replied with a single sentence which revealed the gist of the
problem: If Indonesians are unwilling to use the products of
their own technology, how can they claim to support the
development of our national aircraft industry as a central part
of our efforts to promote science and technology as well as our
national industry?

As a state-owned company, MNA is expected to position itself
as a component of the government apparatus. For this reason MNA
should follow the grand strategy which has been delineated by the
government as its shareholder. MNA is not an ordinary merchant of
flight services which follows only the norms of efficiency and
profitability. MNA is a an arm of the government.

-- Republika, Jakarta