Indonesian Air Force 'hands Over' Halim Airport To Lion Air, Still Not Getting Sri Mulyani's Approval?

JAKARTA - Halim Perdanakusuma Airport is one of the state assets whose management is generally handed over to the Directorate General of State Assets (DJKN), Ministry of Finance.

In managing the airport, DJKN then handed over the usage status to the Ministry of Defense to then be handled technically by the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU).

On the way, the control of Halim Airport encountered problems because the Indonesian Air Force was said to have agreed to provide the management of this transportation facility to PT Angkasa Transportindo Selaras (ATS), which is a subsidiary of the Lion Group.

The entry of ATS is planned to replace the duties of PT Angkasa Pura II as the operator of Halim Airport so far. However, the agreement between the Indonesian Air Force and Lion since 2004 has not been realized to this day.

In response to this, the Director of State Property (BMN) DJKN Encep Sudarwan opened his voice. Sri Mulyani's subordinates suspected that there was a misperception on the management of BMN.

"This may be a little missed," he said when answering questions from the media on Friday, July 22.

Encep explicitly said that any strategic use of state assets or BMN must obtain approval from the highest leadership of the Ministry of Finance.

"That which is called the use of BMN, in principle, must obtain approval from the Minister of Finance as the manager of goods," he said.

However, Encep did not provide detailed information whether the transfer of control of Halim Perdanakusuma Airport had received the 'green light' from Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani or not. He also promised to open lines of communication with related parties to solve problems in the field.

"We will hold a meeting with them first to see what the problem is," said Encep.