Sempati responds

Sempati responds

Sempati would like to respond to statements attributed to Sri
Bintang Pamungkas in The Jakarta Post of Thursday, Feb. 2, 1995,
in the article titled Agency uncovers more than 220 corruption
cases.

The article states: "Bintang said that Sempati, a private
airline company, has not paid up their purchase of fuel from the
state-owned oil firm since 1990."

Such a statement is totally untrue. We are shocked that Sri
Bintang would have made this remark without checking the facts.

Since January 1990 to December 1994 Sempati has purchased Rp
191 billion of fuel from Pertamina. As of the accounting period
ending Dec. 31, 1994, Sempati owed Pertamina a total of Rp 6.7
billion, which represents an outstanding of less than one month
of total domestic purchases made in 1994.

It is inaccurate as well as politically irresponsible for
Bintang to suggest that we never paid up our purchase of fuel
from Pertamina since 1990. It is difficult to imagine how any
company would be allowed to owe money to another company for five
years worth of supplies.

As a member of the House of Representatives it would be
unfortunate if Sri Bintang made such statement without verifying
the facts. We sincerely hope that we can all refrain from making
unfortunate allegations, especially if it sacrifices the honest
work of others, for the sake of political gain.

I also hope this letter will put the record straight on
Sempati and clarify the situation.

HASAN M. SOEDJONO

President Sempati Air