Reflection: Poor repair, poor maintance, poor knowledge but big mouth and rich in corruption
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/article/20519.html May 21, 2009 Putri Prameshwari, Amir Tejo, Fery Irwanto & Markus Junianto Sihaloho Plane's Age, Poor Repair Blamed for Military Crash That Killed 98 Lawmakers and aviation experts said aging equipment and woefully inadequate maintenance by the Armed Forces were at the root of a military transport plane's crash in East Java, as the first burials began on Thursday of the scores of passengers killed. Aviation observer Dudi Sudibyo said the Air Force needed a bigger budget for maintenance, calling the current Rp 35 trillion ($3.2 billion) from the state budget insufficient. "Facility maintenance is as important as the soldiers' welfare," he said. The Hercules C-130 plane, carrying 99 passengers and 11 crew members, crashed in Geplak village, in East Java's Magetan district, on Wednesday as it was preparing to land, killing 96 people on board and two residents on the ground. Fifteen others were injured. The plane was carrying military personnel and their families from Jakarta to Papua, with its first stop at East Java's Iswahyudi Air Base. The precise cause of the crash is under investigation. Theo Sambuaga, who chairs House of Representatives Commission I overseeing security and defense, said the military's weapon systems were in poor condition and had to be replaced. "There should be an audit of all military facilities," he said. In the last month, there have been 120 deaths in three military aircraft accidents across the country. In April, a Fokker-27 crashed into an airport hangar before bursting into flames at Bandung's Hussein Sastranegara International Airport, killing 24 people. It had been carrying soldiers and an instructor from Jakarta. Last week, another Hercules C-130 lost its rear landing gear on landing in Papua's Jayawijaya district and slammed into a house, injuring a resident. The crash prompted authorities in Jakarta to order a thorough inspection of all Hercules C-130 planes, including those that had just had maintenance checks in Singapore. Indonesia's civil aviation industry has many of the same problems, with multiple fatal crashes and mishaps in recent years blamed on inadequate maintenance or safety procedures. In the wake of the latest crash, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the state's annual allocation to the Armed Forces - estimated at less than a third of its total budget - was insufficient. Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono has said the minimum to ensure a fully professional military is at least Rp 100 trillion a year. Only Rp 36.4 trillion was allotted in 2008, and of that only Rp 3.98 trillion went to the Air Force. Sudarsono on Wednesday said that less than 10 percent of the defense budget went to the maintenance of main armament systems, while ideally it should be 20 percent to 25 percent. According to a recent report on Air Force equipment, only 27 of 75 jet fighters are said to be airworthy and 21 of 53 transport aircraft can fly. In January, the Ministry of Defense announced three preferred candidates for a $7.2 million tender to upgrade the aging C-130 Hercules aircraft. The ministry said Malaysia-based Aerod, Canada's Standard Aero and England's Rolls-Royce were invited to Jakarta to discuss bids. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday met senior Armed Forces and government figures to discuss the crash. "I, on behalf of the government and personally, would like to express my deepest condolences to the victims' families," he said. Burials occurred on Thursday in Banten and Yogyakarta, and multiple others were expected today and this weekend.
