Soeharto okays plan to hire Portuguese pilots

Soeharto okays plan to hire Portuguese pilots

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is ready to recruit Portuguese pilots
to help supplement a shortage at home although the two countries
have no diplomatic relations which were broken in 1976 over the
question of East Timor.

President Soeharto yesterday agreed to the proposal to hire
the Portuguese pilots when it was discussed by Xavier Lopez da
Cruz, a senior East Timorese politician, during a meeting at the
Bina Graha presidential office.

Lopez told reporters after the meeting that the proposal was
made by a Portuguese air force retired general, Galvao de Mello,
who now heads the Portuguese-Indonesia Friendship Association.

Soeharto proposed that these Portuguese pilots be employed on
flights between Jakarta and Singapore, according to Lopez, who is
an ambassador at large on East Timor affairs.

These pilots have clocked more than 5,000 flying hours but
their employment in Portugal will soon be terminated, he said.

He did not deny that there is a political motive behind this
plan. "These pilots will be working for us and, of course, they
will see Indonesia and will relate what they see to their friends
at home."

Yesterday, President Soeharto also approved the plan of the
Indonesia-Portugal Friendship Association, which is chaired by
his daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, to visit Portugal, Lopez
said. (emb)