PAP II's staff stage another rally

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)