Seeing The Sad Condition Of Some Of The Former Employees Of Merpati Air, Some Are So Sick That They Survive To Become Massage Therapists

The Former Merpati Pilots Association (PPEM). (Photo: VOI/Mary Handayani)

JAKARTA - The condition of former Merpati Airlines officials, pilots and employees is currently very worrying. Salaries and severance pay which are expected to be a guide to survive in old age have not been paid.

As is known, PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines is still in arrears in severance payments for 1,233 former pilots and their employees with a total value of IDR 312 billion. In fact, the company has stopped operating since 2014.

After the airline stopped operating, many pilots had entered retirement age. So, they find it difficult to find work in other airlines. As a result, many former pilots and employees of Merpati Airlines have turned their backs on trying any profession to support their families.

Representative of former Merpati Pilot Muhammad Masikoer said that one of the former General Managers at Merpati Airlines had a very sad fate. Masikoer said, he survives today by working on other people's land.

In fact, continued Masikoer, not a few former Merpati pilots are seriously ill and aging due to only relying on severance pay. Until now, the government has not provided a solution for the thousands of employees who have not received severance pay.

Budi Raharjo, a former Merpati employee who is old and lying sick. (Photo: VOI/IST)

"Many of our friends have died, maybe even it is necessary to know that the former GM Merpati in Kupang is now only a cultivator of other people's land, sleeping in an inappropriate hut, some are sorry for leaving their wife, some are massage therapists, there was a go-jek, all of them used to be Merpati officials, not ordinary employees," he said, quoted Tuesday, May 31.

In fact, according to Masikoer, his party only demands payment of salaries and severance pay. Including pension funds collected from salary deductions. He said the employee manuals also did not expect the holiday allowance (THR) to be paid.

Agus Sasongko, a former pigeon employee, works as a massage therapist. (Photo: VOI/IST

"We didn't even expect that, the THR was not paid, it's okay, but the money I collected from, I'm sorry I entered Merpati in 74 as a pilot student, I retired in 2019, so the period was around 45 years I was in Pigeons," he said.

To solve the Merpati Airlines problem, the Ministry of SOEs took steps to restructure Merpati Airlines through PT Perusahaan Penglola Aset (PPA) with a state capital participation (PMN) scheme of Rp500 billion.

However, said Masikoer, in reality the PPA also did not provide a solution, it even seemed to throw away the body when suing for the Suspension of Debt Payment Obligations (PKPU). With the disbandment of Merpati, the former pilots and other employees did not get anything.

Capt Didiek, a former Merpati Air pilot, died in a plane crash. (Photo: VOI/IST)

In seeking certainty of payment of salaries and severance pay, Masikoer said that his party had taken many ways. Starting from demanding rights to the Palace, KSP, Komnas HAM, KPK to the DPR, but until now there has been no clear point on the payment of their rights.

"Where else are you going, I don't know, if you want to tell me it doesn't feel good. So we ask the DPR for help on how to find the best solution," he said.