PAP II's staff stage another rally

TANGERANG (JP): Two thousand employees of state airport management company Perum Angkasa Pura (PAP) II staged a second rally to demand complete reform of the management at the companies headquarters at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport yesterday.

In a departure from last Wednesday's demands, the workers clearly stated that they wanted PAP II president Chusjairi to immediately leave his post and asked the management to bring all subcontracted services back within the firm immediately.

The protesters accused their boss of having adopted a number of unpopular practices during his time in charge of the company.

Senior employee Damen Malau said in a speech that the family of former president Soeharto had greatly benefited from the contracts awarded to them by the company over a period of 20 years.

The Cendana family's involvement had prevented employees from enjoying the fruits of the company's profitability, Malau told the crowd.

Following Soeharto's resignation, the former president and his family have come to be known by the name of the flush residential street where they reside in Central Jakarta, called Jl. Cendana.

According to the employees, the family monopolized a number of projects and contracts at the airport which should have been handled by PAP II.

Commercial billboard installation at the huge airport complex, the supply of orchids, grass cutting, cleaning services and electricity maintenance are only some of the family's business interests here, Malau said.

Soeharto's close friend Mohamad "Bob" Hasan and one of the former president's daughters-in-law had planned to set up a food catering firm to supply airlines operating out of the airport, he added.

PAP II president Chusjairi, following the greedy example set by the Soeharto clan, built himself a gas station at the airport complex which, according to the workers, broke safety regulations through its proximity to a radar station.

Company spokeswoman Suparyati welcomed the rally yesterday and said the action was a positive move.

"But their demands for Chusjairi's resignation would depend on the government, who appointed him in the first place," she told reporters.

According to Suparyati, some of the workers' demands from last Wednesday's rally had actually been met.

The parking area at the airport, for instance, had since been handed over from PT Angkasa Parking System to PAP II for management, she said.

PAP II, she added, had also taken back control of employees' health insurance from the state-run PT Askes insurance firm for the sake of efficiency.

To answer charges of nepotism, Chusjairi's daughter Mauli Dina, a dentist, resigned from her position with the company, Suparyati added.

She did not disclose what the dentist's responsibilities were while she was with the firm.

"She's now continuing her studies thanks to a scholarship from the firm which was given to her by her father," Suparyati said.

PAP II was among dozens of state firms that recorded huge financial losses between April and September in the 1996/1997 fiscal year due to irregularities such as government overspending and overpriced projects, according to a Supreme Audit Agency report issued last June.

In a related development yesterday morning, 300 employees of PT Aerowisata Catering Service (ACS), a subsidiary of the national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, staged a rally at the airline's headquarters in Central Jakarta.

The protesters demanded the company pay them their existing pension funds in cash.

The protesters also held a free speech forum to express their needs.

The noisy but peaceful protest ended at 9:45 a.m. after Garuda director for technical affairs Oka Wiradarma met with seven representatives of the group.

After the meeting, Aliansyah, a spokesperson for the demonstrators, said they also called on the airline's management to meet their demand for the immediate implementation of a 14 point program of reforms.

Their demands included an immediate end to corruption, collusion and nepotism in the catering company, and the introduction of a transparent bidding system for all new projects and contracts.

They wanted assurances from the company that they would not fire their workers in the way privately-owned Sempati Air had, he said.

According to Aliansyah, there are still a lot of corrupt officials at ACS.

"You know what is happening when food which has, for example, an original unit price of Rp 3,000 is bought by the management for Rp 30,000 from certain specially appointed suppliers," he told the media.

The workers also demanded that Garuda collect debts worth Rp 47 billion (US$3.6 million) owed by the recently grounded PT Sempati Air.

"I've got concrete evidence of the debts," Aliansyah said.

Garuda director Oka said the management would consider the issue. (41/bsr)