NGOs to Sue President Over New Plane

March 26, 2012

A coalition of budget watchdogs says it will sue President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over the purchase of a presidential plane for $91 million.

Uchok Sky Khadafi, advocacy and investigative coordinator for the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), said on Sunday that the nongovernmental groups would file suit in the Central Jakarta District Court.

“We’ve written up our formal complaint and just need to sign it,” he said. “Sometime in the next few weeks we intend to file it with the court.”

He said the coalition was taking its case to court because there had been no response from the president to a complaint sent to him earlier this month about the purchase of the Boeing 737-800 business jet.

The funding for the purchase was approved by the House of Representatives last week and the government took delivery of the plane in January, but it is not expected to be ready for use until August 2013, after it is customized.

The NGOs, opposed to what they deem an unnecessary expense, refuted last month the government’s reasoning that buying a dedicated presidential plane would work out cheaper than the current practice of renting a plane from Garuda Indonesia.

Gunawan, executive chairman of the Indonesian Human Rights Committee for Social Justice, said last month that renting the plane cost the state nothing.

“What is being saved [with the presidential jet]?” Gunawan said. “Renting from Garuda Indonesia does not cause any loss to the state because [Garuda] is a state enterprise, so its income is state revenue.”

Benny Dikty Sinaga, a lawyer for the coalition of NGOs, said that flying Garuda was more cost-effective than buying a new jet because the government would not have to use funds to maintain it.

“If an airplane is purchased, then that automatically comes with maintenance costs,” he said. “Whether it’s used or not, the plane must be maintained.”

Their newest argument against the purchase factors in the widespread public unrest about the imminent fuel price hike, which is meant to cut subsidy spending.

Uchok said that if the purchase was canceled, it would free up $91 million from the state budget that could be used to maintain the subsidy and obviate the need for a fuel price hike.

“If the president hadn’t bought the plane, there would be less pressure on the state budget and no need to raise fuel prices,” he said.

The coalition of NGOs maintains that the jet purchase means more than just monetary losses for the state treasury. They say the deal also hurts state enterprises and the domestic aviation industry.


(this x the JG)

(What are these guys moaning about, the Yankee president has America1 to flutter around in at undisclosed cost, so why not Bpk SBY a "modest presidential plane at a mere 91 million?0 siK.