Transportation Minister Ready to Step Down
Wednesday, 28 February, 2007 | 14:28 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Merak: Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa has stated that he is willing to resign following the recent series of public transportation accidents.

However, he will only resign if instructed to do so by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“If the President asks for this, I will step down,” he said yesterday (27/2) after accompanying the President on a journey across the Sunda Strait from Bakaheuni to Merak harbor aboard the Jatra III ferry.

Hatta denied that he had intentionally sacrificed his subordinates in order to cover himself.

Previously, he acknowledged that Air Transportation Director General M. Iksan Tatang and Sea Transportation Director General H. Harijogi will be removed from their posts in connection with the series of public transportation accidents.

“But they aren’t being sacrificed,” he said, “This measure is being taken because we concluded these officials must be held responsible for the incidents.”

In addition, said Hatta, replacements are necessary for updating.

Therefore, the reshuffling will apply both to echelon I and echelon II officials.

However, he reminded that the plan to reshuffle echelon I officials must wait for the discussions of the Final Evaluation Team, which is led by the Vice President.

“The authority is through a president decision,” he said.

As regards the plan to reshuffle echelon II officials, this is being carried out by the Positions and Ranking Assessment Agency (Baperjakat) and will be completed this week.

On the other hand, in order to prevent public transportation from repeating, the Transportation Minister will increase monitoring over related operators and officials.

This, said Hatta, is in line with the President’s instruction, adding:“No more tolerance. Officials who violate the law will be fired and operators banned.”

Agung Laksono, Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) said that the dismissal and reshuffling of officials was the government’s right.

However, according to him, the person who should be held responsible for the frequent transportation accidents is Hatta Rajasa himself.

“The head of the department should be the one held responsible,” emphasized Agung.

Faidil Akbar, Harun Mahbub, Erwin Daryanto and Sandy Indra