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Rival camp urges Jokowi not to sell presidential aircraft

Prabowo Subianto’s Red-and-White Coalition has rebuked an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician, Maruarar Sirait, for suggesting that president-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo sell the country’s first presidential aircraft

Yuliasri Perdani (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, September 3, 2014

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Rival camp urges Jokowi not to sell presidential aircraft

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rabowo Subianto'€™s Red-and-White Coalition has rebuked an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician, Maruarar Sirait, for suggesting that president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo sell the country'€™s first presidential aircraft.

In a panel discussion on economic disparity on Monday, Maruarar suggested that the Boeing Business Jet 2 (BBJ2) should be sold in order to cut down on government expenses and maintain Jokowi'€™s down-to-earth style of governance.

Red-and-White Coalition spokesman Tantowi Yahya said that reselling the presidential plane would adversely impact the country'€™s economy and put Jokowi'€™s safety at risk.

'€œThe government and the House of Representatives have gone through a long deliberation to decide on the plane procurement. At the end, we concluded that having the presidential plane will save the country hundreds of billions of rupiah,'€ Tantowi, the deputy chairman of House Commission I overseeing defense, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He added that the presidential plane procurement allowed national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, which had been leasing jets for presidential flights, to gain increased revenues from its commercial operations.

'€œOur coalition does not always attempt to corner the ruling government. We want the presidential aircraft to be maintained because we care about Jokowi'€™s safety,'€ the Golkar politician added.

The presidential aircraft has been mired in controversy since its procurement in 2009. Several NGOs said that the lavish jet was an unnecessary expenditure for a country with millions of people still living below the poverty line.

After delays, the plane finally arrived in April. The BBJ2, which is based on the Boeing 737-800 narrow body airliner, can fly up to 10 hours non-stop. The plane is a VVIP aircraft with a US$27 million cabin interior consisting of a master bedroom, four VVIP meeting rooms, two VVIP state rooms, 12 executive areas and 44 staff areas.

Expressing his opposition to the plan to raise fuel prices to ease the burden of the 2015 State Budget, Maruarar reiterated his idea to sell the plane on Tuesday.

'€œPeople chose Jokowi because he is modest and approachable. I believe that his humbleness should be maintained when he takes office,'€ he said.

He added that by reselling the $91.2 million plane and applying some other budget-tightening measures, Jokowi would be left with sufficient fiscal space to maintain fuel subsidies. Maruarar is one of several PDI-P politicians who oppose Jokowi'€™s plan to raise fuel prices.

In his last six months in office, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took a maiden flight aboard the new presidential aircraft on a visit to Bali in May.

Doubts over the plane'€™s suitability emerged after Yudhoyono chose a Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330-300 for his visit to Fiji in June. It is rumored that this decision to forego the new presidential airplane was because it could not accommodate Yudhoyono'€™s extensive entourage, nor withstand the non-stop 10.5 hour flight to Fiji.

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