TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of the Garuda Employee Union (Sekarga) Tomy Tampatty explained a number of reasons his union decided to file a police report against Youtube content creator Rius Vernandes and Elwiyana Monica.

He says Sekarga regrets that the internet influencers did an ‘expose’ without confirming the issue first with Garuda managements. The issue he refers to is the handwritten menu handed by flight attendants in one of their business-class flights Rius was aboard.

“They should have confirmed it first to Garuda. If that was what they had done, we are certain that Garuda management would be able to provide an answer, that what they experienced is not the standard operations within the carrier in terms of menu presentation,” said Tomy to Tempo on Thursday, July 18.

He then said that if that was the case, managements would have commenced an internal investigation and provided Rius and Elwiyana with the proper apology and offer service recovery.

“But what they did was immediately spread it. That was actually only a cabin crew’s note [kept as a backup],” Tomy explained.

This reason alone, he says, is what drove Sekarga employees to report the two to the police. “The photo was spread, the public immediately judged how bad it was and affected the company’s reputation,” he said.

Tomy then asserts that Garuda Indonesia is not allergic to criticism and complaints.

JONIANSYAH HARDJONO