'Timor cars shipped to RI all brand-new'

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT Surveyor Indonesia confirmed yesterday that all Timor sedans shipped from the Kia Motors plant in South Korea to Indonesia were brand-new.

"We have so far inspected 14,635 Timor sedans at the Kia Motors plant according to the specifications given by the buyer (PT Timor Putra Nasional) and found all of them to be brand-new cars," Surveyor Indonesia's Operations director Ray Williams asserted yesterday.

Surveyor Indonesia was assigned by the government in 1991 to inspect imports at points of loading under a contract which is to end next month.

Williams said Surveyor Indonesia made the inspection on the basis of the specifications submitted by the buyer.

"We found them all in accordance with the specifications," he said.

The state company has been conducting the inspection service in cooperation with Geneva-based Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), the world's largest surveyor company.

House member Ni Gusti Ayu Eka Sukmadewi caused a controversy last week when she disclosed at a meeting with Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo that Kia Motors had been dumping defective cars in Indonesia.

The controversial report also caught the attention of President Soeharto who immediately asked Tunky to clarify the issue.

Sukmadewi and several other House members visited South Korea, including the Kia Motors plant, last year on a fact-finding mission related to Indonesian workers and the Timor car production.

Sukmadewi also alleged that the fully assembled Timor cars shipped to Indonesia were actually rejected sedans which had been withdrawn from the Korean market.

PT Kia Timor Motors director Rhim Johng Kook here has also rejected the allegation as completely groundless and senseless, pointing out that Korea uses left-hand drive vehicles and Indonesia uses right-hand drives.

Timor car has been accorded the national automobile status and is exempt from import duty and luxury sales tax for three years.

PT Timor Putra originally planned to assemble the Timor cars in Indonesia but, due to inadequate assembly facilities, the company has been allowed to import fully assembled cars from the Kia Motors plant until it completes its assembly facility in West Java in a joint venture with Kia Motors.

Timor Putra is chaired by Hutomo Mandala Putra, President Soeharto's youngest son. (vin)