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