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The tale of crisis-ridden Garuda: A phoenix in waiting?
If we want to pursue corruption cases related to Garuda, a bankruptcy procedure would give clear evidence of state losses caused by alleged corruption.
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A cartoon encouraging Garuda to be rescued from insolvency. (JP/T. Sutanto)
T
here is a myth about the phoenix, the legendary bird that claimed to be immortal. The phoenix burst into flames when it was time to die and was reborn from its ashes. Indonesia also has a mythical bird: Garuda.
Unlike the phoenix, the mythical Garuda is more than just immortal. It has legendary powers, defeating Indra, king of the gods, in its quest for amerta, the elixir of immortality, and outwitting Kadru’s sons, who enslaved its mother.
A complete package of a being, Garuda has brains, brawn and good behavior, a perfect candidate for Mr. Universe.
But the story of the national carrier that shares the mythical creature’s name is quite different. The airline is far from a perfect, almighty company. It has stumbled through scandal, corruption and even commercial failure.
It seems that the name Garuda is too heavy a burden. And recently, the company faced creditors in both international arbitration and domestic courts while seeking a suspension of debt payment obligation (PKPU).
Though the government is pretty confident that Garuda will somehow manage to make it through the debt restructuring process with a PKPU, there is always a chance of the unexpected in a court battle. We are never sure that a process will have a particular result, unless the process is rigged.
The only thing we can gauge are tendencies. So normatively speaking, there is a slight chance that bankruptcy will come to the surface if the PKPU process fails to reach a consensus. The question is, will bankruptcy be the wrong solution for this state-owned company?
