A Wreath Of Former Air Pigeon Pilots For Erick Thohir: All We Have Now Is Life

JAKARTA - The Former Merpati Pilots Association (PPEM), today, visited the Ministry of SOE's office on Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta. Their arrival was to hand over a bouquet of flowers to the Ministry of SOEs and demand payment of the remaining severance pay of IDR 318 billion from 1,233 people.

The wreath was written: Dear Minister of SOEs, We wish you a happy Eid, Minal aidin wal faidzin, sorry to be born and inner heart. We ask you to immediately complete our severance pay because our lives and livelihoods and that of our families have suffered greatly, all we have now is our lives. Sincerely, Association of Ex-Merpati Pilots.

One of the former Merpati Air pilots, Eddy Sarwono, explained that it had been four years since 2018, there was also no clarity from the Ministry of SOEs regarding the payment of the remaining severance pay for employees and former Merpati Airlines pilots.

Furthermore, Eddy said that his party had taken various ways so that there would be a bright spot in the payment of the remaining severance pay. However, according to Eddy, so far the former Merpati Airlines pilots have not received satisfactory results.

"So, starting to get a bit intense, in June 2021, we will make an open letter press conference against the president, but so far, we have tried it through the audience, there has been no result, there has been no consensus. In fact, Mr. Erick Thohir wants to dissolve it through the courts of all kinds," he said when met at the Ministry of SOEs, Jakarta, Wednesday, May 18.

Eddy assessed that the amount of salary and severance pay of Rp318 billion was not large and would not be difficult for the government. However, he admitted that he was surprised why the government did not pay this obligation.

"Actually, it's not a big country but I don't know it can't be done, what's sad is that Merpati has already contributed enough to the development of this country," he explained.

According to Eddy, the reason for the long process of paying severance pay is due to the protracted delay in paying debt obligations (PKPU) from PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines. Moreover, PT Perusahaan Pengelola Asset (Persero) or PPA also applied for PKPU.

"We have also tried to apply for the cancellation of the homologation to PKPU, but strangely, PPA as a BUMN in charge of restructuring and revitalization has even filed for PKPU. So it seems like they don't want to lose, they want to control assets too," he explained.

Furthermore, Eddy admitted that he did not know why PPA had also filed for PKPU. According to him, PPA should be tasked with fixing the problems experienced by Merpati Airlines.

"I don't understand why they are like that, if honestly it's the PPA's job to fix it, what are the results for so many years? This is a quote for Minister Erick that there are SOEs with such quality," he said.