Andi Arief Democrat Protests Red And White Presidential Plane, Ferdinand: Show Who You Really Are

JAKARTA - Democratic Party politician Andi Arief protested against the repaint of the presidential plane. During the administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), the color of the aircraft was dominated by blue and white, similar to the colors of the Democratic party. Now the color of the plane changes to red and white.

According to Andi, the dominance of the blue sky on the plane is for the sake of increasing flight security.

"Now the presidential plane is red. I don't know what that means, it could be the color of the flag or the corona. It used to be blue. The design and colors were made by a major designer in the Indonesian Air Force. The dominance of sky blue is an effort to improve flight security, as a camouflage color when flying," protested Andi via his Twitter account, @Andiarief_ quoted Tuesday, August 3.

This tweet was responded to by Andi's colleague, Ferdinand Hutahaean. According to Ferdinand, the red and white color of the aircraft is an important national identity according to the colors of the Indonesian flag.

"That's Red and White, bro, not to erase anyone's tracks, but to show our pride of Red and White. We must be more proud of Red and White than Blue and White. We are Indonesian, bro..!! Enthusiasm..!!,' Ferdinand tweeted to @FerdinandHaean3 .

It didn't stop there, in the next tweet, Ferdinand considered the reasons for camouflage or security expressed by Andi Arief to be funny.

"Stealth planes can only be detected by sophisticated radar, why are they painted blue and the planes are camouflaged? Is this war of the era of technology a war of the naked eye? Airplanes are painted red and white when protesting, who really looks like you guys...!!," said Ferdinand.

Special Staff to the Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Faldo Maldini explained that painting the Indonesian Presidential aircraft-1 or BBJ 2 is not a new thing. According to him, this plan is already in the state budget so it must be implemented.

"This is not a new plan, it has been started since 2019 to welcome the 75th Independence Day. However, the BBJ 2 aircraft was serviced according to the manufacturer's recommendation, it fell in 2021. At first, it was a package with several other fleets that had arrived. to be more efficient," said Faldo in his statement to reporters, Tuesday, August 3.

According to him, the painting must be done because the budget has been allocated to the state budget. In addition, its use is also in accordance with the provisions for refocusing the budget for handling COVID-19.

"The current budget has focused on the pandemic in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Finance. Of course, this plan is already in the APBN, so it must be implemented," said Faldo.