Merpati Airlines Bankrupt, Minister Of SOEs: Targeted To Close

Illustration of a dove plane. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir said PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines (Perseo) or Merpati Airlines was indeed a company targeted for closure.

This is in line with the bankruptcy decision issued by the Commercial Court (PN) of Surabaya, East Java.

"Merpati asked Mr. Yadi (President Director of PT Perusahaan Pengelola Asset (Persero) or PPA). The point is that Merpati of the seven companies that have been targeted to be closed, one of them is Merpati," he said after a Working Meeting with Commission VI, at the DPR Building, Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday 7 May.

Erick said that PT Danareksa (Persero) and PPA were tasked with fixing bad companies until they were liquidated. Moreover, many have not been operating for a long time.

"Don't let us be cruel to workers who are adrift. It is better to solve it. Of course, the assets that we are still using, we will synergize. For example, Merpati has maintenance, it can be synergized with Garuda or Pelita Air, we can do that," he said. .

Earlier in the meeting, member of Commission VI Andre Rosiade reminded Erick Thohir to complete the payment for Merpati Airlines workers' rights. This includes severance pay.

"I just want to remind you, I read in the media the decision of Merpati to be bankrupt today, which we entrusted with a message, Mr. Minister, please give employees rights, please fight for employee severance pay to be resolved," said Andre.

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.

Some time ago, dozens of former Merpati Airlines pilots came to complain to the DPR RI's People's Representative Building, Senayan, Jakarta.

They demanded basic rights in the form of salaries and severance pay which the state-owned company had not paid.

Representative of former Merpati Pilot Muhammad Masikoer said that former Merpati Pilots did not expect external funding, but demanded their basic rights.

"What we expect is my own money, our own money, we have our own salary, we collect the severance pay, we collect the pension funds ourselves from deductions," said Masikoer, at the DPR Building, Monday 30 May.

Masikoer also admitted that he did not expect the holiday allowance (THR) to be paid.

According to him, what is expected to be paid immediately are their salaries and severance pay.

"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.