TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Minister for State-Owned Enterprises Dahlan Iskan acknowledged that the corruption case involving state-owned airline firm Merpati Nusantara Airlines was a daunting problem for SOEs. "Somebody even suggested it be made a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia," he said on Wednesday, June 27. But he does not think it is an appropriate solution. "If it becomes Garuda’s subsidiary, Garuda will in its turn become ‘sick’," Dahlan said. According to him, with the new board of directors, the ministry is giving the SOE an opportunity to improve. "Merpati’s old baggage is already exceedingly heavy. The important thing for now is to give support." Regarding the possibility of his ministry reporting the corruption to KPK, Dahlan said it should Merpati’s initiative. "SOE ministry doesn’t do the reporting because the findings data are in their management’s hands. I’d greatly welcome it if they took the initiative." With its new director, Rudy Setyopurnomo, Merpati is conducting various reforms to combat corruption. Rudy recently said that corruption had reached 60 percent. However, the company is slowly beginning to make a profit, albeit slight. SATWIKA MOVEMENTI