Ridwan to lose his position at Merpati
JAKARTA (JP): Ridwan Fatarudin's days as the president of the state-owned airline Merpati Nusantara are numbered after Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto ordered that he be replaced following Merpati's refusal to lease Indonesian-built CN-235-200 aircraft.
Ridwan told the press last week that, in spite of Haryanto's request that Merpati lease 16 CN-235-200 planes, Merpati had decided not to do so because the aircraft's unusually high operating costs would worsen the financial condition of the airline.
Merpati, a subsidiary of the national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, has been asked by the ministry of transportation to lease, through PT Arthasaka Nusaphala, 16 CN-235-200 aircraft.
However, Merpati's management considered the US$110,000 monthly leasing fee to be too high, saying that even a Boeing 737-200, with a seating capacity three times as large as the CN- 235, costs only $105,000 per month to lease.
Moreover, according to Ridwan, most of the CN-235 aircraft currently operated by Merpati have been losing money.
Arthasaka is owned jointly by the Bakrie Group, controlled by Aburizal Bakrie, and the Humpuss Group, which is controlled by Hutomo Mandala Putra.
The CN-235 is produced by the state-owned PT Industry Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) in Bandung, which is chaired by State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie.
Ridwan said he had suggested that the government buy the 16 CN-235-200s and transfer them to Merpati as new equity, as the government had done earlier with the 14 CN-235-10s currently operated by the airline.
Haryanto sharply criticized the widely-publicized decision of the Merpati management, saying that the negotiations were still underway at the time, with several overseas financial institutions offering low interest rates.
Haryanto was reported by the Media Indonesia daily yesterday to have ordered Garuda's president, Soepandi, to sack Ridwan, as well as Budhiarto Subroto, Amin Kahar and Syarifudin Iteroedin -- Merpati's directors of operation, finance and commerce respectively.
Soepandi, unable to disobey the order, conveyed Haryanto's request to the finance minister, who is the nominee shareholder for the government in all state companies.
Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad said yesterday that he would soon make a statement through his spokesman about the matter.
"Just wait for a press release from the public relations department of my ministry," Mar'ie said yesterday, as quoted by Antara.
Ridwan, who was appointed Merpati president in August 1992, replacing Frans H. Sumolang, said that he had been warned previously by Haryanto that he might lose his job.
"The minister has told me three times that I will lose my post. So I fully realized the consequences of my public statement about the refusal to lease the CN-235-200 aircraft," he said.
He said that it might be true that Merpati is the "baby sitter" testing ground for IPTN's products, but added that he also has a responsibility to take care of the company's financial soundness.
Merpati spokesman Tondo Widodo said yesterday that neither his office nor the public relations sections of Garuda or the ministry of transportation had yet received any official notification about Ridwan's replacement. (icn)