Govt to Buy New Presidential Plane
Now if I was president of a country that had massive unemployment, its people suffering and starving from all kinds of natural disasters and its national airline on the verge of bankruptcy, then buying a lush new plane would be far from my agenda.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla had to transfer to another aircraft during a trip to Sumatra after a cracked windshield on the presidential plane forced it to land. I got a crack on my car windscreen but that doesn't mean I am going to go out and buy a new car!.
Anyway the government plans to purchase a new aircraft to replace the 30 year old presidential plane.
The Vice President was quoted as saying "We plan to buy a new plane because the current one is already 30 years old and we have been too stingy to buy a new aircraft."
Kalla was forced to take a commercial flight from Medan to Jakarta after a crack was discovered in the windshield of the presidential plane. The Vice President flew aboard a B-737/200 aircraft operated by Batavia Air. Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa recently ordered all B-737/200 aircraft grounded following a government commissioned report that found about 25 of the 75 aircraft of this type used by local airlines often had hydraulic problems.
The cost of that new plane sure could buy a lot of medicine and food for those in need right now.