To Save Garuda Indonesia, Commission VI Of The House Of Representatives Encourages The Forming Of A Special Audit Team

Garuda Indonesia aircraft (Photo: BPMI Setpres/Muchlis Jr)

JAKARTA - Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives encourages the formation of a special team to audit the performance of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk, which is technically declared bankrupt. According to him, this team will help save the state-owned company.

"Garuda as a national flag carrier must be rescued. An audit team is needed to ensure that various problems in Garuda's management can be uncovered at the same time so that the government can have the best solution," said Member of Commission VI DPR RI, Andre Rosiade, Saturday, November 13.

Garuda's condition is currently bleeding due to various problems. Such as the problem of aircraft leasing costs from lessors or aircraft leasing companies which are very large, even up to 4 times higher than the average.

The total value of Garuda's aircraft rental reached Rp. 42 trillion for 50 aircraft in September 2014. Andre urged the Ministry of SOEs to report the alleged perpetrators of corruption to law enforcement officials regarding the issue of aircraft leases, which has actually been an issue for a long time.

“The Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises needs to report Garuda's old management to law enforcement officials. You can go to the KPK, you can go to the Attorney General's Office, you can go to the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police. What is clear is that the government has to act so that we know whether there is lobbying from elements at Garuda with the lessor until there is a mark-up for aircraft rentals," he said.

Another problem faced by Garuda is its debt which has exceeded US$ 9.75 billion or equivalent to Rp. 138.45 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 14,200). The debt liability is much lower than Garuda's assets of only US$ 6.92 billion.

In addition, Garuda's equity or capital was recorded at minus US$ 2.8 billion or equivalent to Rp. 39.7 billion. Garuda also suffered losses so that it is currently reducing flight routes from 437 to 140 routes.

"We know that the financial problems faced by Garuda are not solely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem of bad corporate governance has existed long before. So a performance audit team is needed," said Andre.

Commission VI of the DPR has reached 5 conclusions when discussing with the Ministry of SOEs the fate of Garuda Indonesia. The commission, which has duties related to SOEs, is pushing for legal proceedings for the issue of aircraft procurement, as well as saving Garuda with priority without using the state budget.

The next conclusion is to give the Ministry of SOEs a period of one year to complete the restructuring of Garuda Indonesia. Then Commission VI, said Andre, also asked the Ministry of SOEs and Garuda Indonesia to continuously report on the progress of debt restructuring.

"We from Commission VI will also discuss the formation of the Garuda Indonesia Rescue Working Committee. Through the Panja, we hope that solutions to various problems faced by Garuda will be found," explained the legislator from the West Sumatra I electoral district.

The government itself will provide financial assistance from the National Economic Recovery Government Investment program (IP-PEN) to Garuda as part of the company's restructuring efforts. However, of the Rp 8.5 trillion approved, the government has only disbursed Rp 1 trillion.

"In essence, saving Garuda Indonesia must be a priority. We hope that the government and Garuda Indonesia will focus on restructuring. We must fight to the last drop of blood so that Garuda, the pride of Indonesia, can be saved," concluded Andre.