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