Presidential Aircraft Color Modification Considered Waste In The Midst Of A Pandemic

Presidential Aircraft/ Twitter Alvin Lie

JAKARTA - The color modification on the presidential plane has attracted the attention of many parties. Especially in the midst of the government spending a lot of money to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is considered not urgent. President Jokowi is considered excessive.

Researcher of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) Gunardi Ridwan believes that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) needs to apologize to the public regarding the repainting of the presidential plane. Reportedly, the painting costs cost the state budget as much as Rp. 2 billion.

"I think the president needs to confirm and apologize to the public, so that there will be no chaos in the community and maintain the authority of the central government," said Gunardi, Tuesday, August 03 (3/8).

The authority of the Jokowi government, Gunardi assessed, could be reduced because so far the center has often pressured regions to be sensitive in using their budget in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

"If this happens at the presidential level, then the central government will lack authority when it often pushes austerity policies to the regional level," he said.

Gunardi considers changing the paint job of the presidential plane as a waste. Moreover, the need is considered not urgent. Maybe, Gunadi said, it could be done at another time.

The government is asked to be more sensitive to the situation and conditions where people are experiencing economic difficulties due to the pandemic.

"I also don't know how often the president uses the presidential plane or helicopter. If the schedule is down due to the pandemic situation, it is better if the budget is diverted to sectors that need it more," Gunadi said.

Gunardi also mentioned that the legislature was considered to have failed to control the executive program. This is proven by the passing of the repaint of the presidential plane which is only known to the public at this time.

The repainting of the presidential plane was revealed to the public after many uploads from aviation expert Alvin Lie. He revealed that the presidential plane was repainted in red and white.

Sources at the Palace said that the cost of repainting the presidential plane or BBJ 2 aircraft was around Rp. 2 billion. However, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Heru Budi Hartono dismissed the repainting of the plane as a form of budget spree in the Jokowi era.

Heru said that the painting of the presidential plane had been planned for the 75th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia in 2020. However, the activity was not carried out immediately because the plane had not yet entered the routine maintenance period.