The dismissal of Ari Askhara from his job as president director of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, only 15 months after being appointed, has been welcomed with an outpouring of delight from several quarters.

Flower boards from Garuda employees began arriving at the State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry office in Jakarta on Friday expressing support and appreciation for Erick Thohir, the minister who fired Ari on Thursday following the recent discovery of a smuggled Harley-Davidson motorcycle and other goods aboard a Garuda aircraft.

“Let’s clean up the SOEs. We support you,” the message read on one of the flower boards from families of Garuda employees.

The Garuda Indonesia Cabin Crew Union (Ikagi) also voiced its gratitude for the decision.

"We kindly appreciate SOE Minister Erick Thohir's decision to sack Ari Askhara from his position," Ikagi chairman Zaenal Muttaqin said at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday.

“We ask the government, in this case, the SOEs minister, to investigate this case, including all members of the board of directors,” he added. 

Officers from the Finance Ministry’s Customs and Excise Directorate General found contraband consisting of one disassembled classic Harley-Davidson in 15 boxes and upmarket Brompton folding bicycles on the airline’s brand new Airbus A330-900 that had just landed from its maiden flight last month.

Erick told a press conference on Thursday that an audit committee report found that the Harley appeared to have been ordered and paid for by Ari, adding that he would fire the president director.

The airline on Friday appointed its finance and risk management director Fuad Rizal to be the acting president director until an extraordinary shareholders meeting is held to appoint a new leader.

A Garuda employee alleged the smuggling attempt was not the first such incident involving Ari.

“He brought in a Harley-Davidson through the London-Medan then Medan-Jakarta flights,” Gini, not their real name, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

“Our new ATR aircraft that arrived [from France] on Nov. 25 also brought a Brompton,” the cabin crew member added.

Garuda spokesperson Ikhsan Rosan did not immediately respond to the Post’s multiple requests for comments or
confirmation.

Problems surrounding Ari’s leadership seem to have ranged wider than the alleged smuggling. In an effort to cut costs, the airline no longer provides overnight accommodation for cabin crew on several international flights.

“We have to endure long shifts of more than 16 hours [...],” Gini said.

However, at the same time, Garuda launched initiatives that cost a lot of money such as live music on certain flights and new cabin crew uniforms.

Another cabin crew member, Dia, again not their real name, confirmed the situation to the Post, saying crews were only able to stay overnight when on flights to Seoul, London and Amsterdam, as well as to Middle Eastern countries.

Cabin crews flying from Denpasar, Bali, to Osaka in Japan, however, had to return directly to Bali.

“That means we have to work almost 24 hours,” Dia said. “Many rules are being violated.”

Dia also cited Garuda’s efforts to cut costs by reducing its onboard services while demanding that crews compete with other prominent airlines, such as Singapore Airlines, with more limited resources to maintain their best cabin crew award.

The management under Ari was also regarded as being quick to ground crews for nontechnical or unprofessional reasons.

Zaenal, for instance, said he had been grounded for the past four months because of his involvement in the union.

“Do you remember the flight attendant in the YouTuber case […]? She has been grounded for six months,” Zaenal told reporters.

Zainal was referring to an incident earlier this year when YouTube personality Rius Vernandes posted a photo on his Instagram account of a handwritten menu on a piece of paper given to him while he was traveling business class on a Garuda flight to Denpasar.

Not only employees have warmly welcomed Ari’s dismissal, businesspeople have also chimed in.

"All this time there has been an effort to make tourism competitive but this was made complicated [by the president director]. As the chairman of the PHRI in the tourism sector, the removal of Garuda's president director makes me very happy," Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani told reporters in Jakarta on Friday.

He added that the removal of Ari would lead to improvements in the aviation and tourism sectors and expressed hoped that it could help boost connectivity and economic growth.

"It wasn’t only passengers who were harmed but also the logistics industry as it became very expensive. That was very annoying," he added.

Popular

Is Indonesia really ready to embrace dual citizenship?

Palm oil plantation-less mills lead to increase deforestation

Prabowo inaugurates construction of Majapahit palace replica