Rp5 Trillion Required to Revive Merpati

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesia Economic Intelligence's Chief Economist, Surnasip, supported the bail-out of Merpati airlines by the government. The liquidity to the aviation could create a big burden to the government since they must pay off the organization's debts and its employees' severance money.

Surnasip said Merpati's assets were merely Rp300 billion. Meanwhile, the company's debts had reached Rp6 trillion. The government has at least had to pay Rp5 trillion to cover for Merpati. "The amount has increased from the calculation in 2007, which was Rp3 trillion," he said yesterday.

He regretted the government's measures, which he viewed, were slow to deal with the root of the aviation's debt issues. He said, the government should be able to detect from the beginning that Merpati required a large amount of financial injection. "But, what happened was they did (capital) injection little by little, so it has not been very effective," he explained.

Not only the burden of liquidity is expensive, but also the closing of Merpati is disadvantageous to the public because the company was the 'hero' in connecting cities and villages in East Jakarta.

Transportation Ministry's Air Transportation Director General, Herry Bakti Gumay, has ensured not to let Merpati to close down. The government has agreed at a coordination meeting, which was attended by Financial, Transportation, and Economic Coordinating Ministers to continue attempting to revive Merpati.

ANANDA PUTRI