Garuda and the National Football Team

I thought that everyone in Indonesia are happy that our national football team beats Malaysia, Laos and Thailand in the AFF-Suzuki Cup, and will play versus the Philippines in the Semi Final in Jakarta on Thursday.

That's why I was surprised when I read on the blog of ReBorn yesterday about the Lawsuit filed by David Tobing, a lawyer, against the used of the Garuda Symbol on the T-Shirts of the our national team.

In an interview with TVOne last night, David Tobing said that afternoon he has filed the Lawsuit with the District Court of Central Jakarta against the President, the Education Minister, the Sports and Youth Minister, the All Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) and PT Nike Indonesia.

He alleged that the use of the Garuda symbol on the T-Shirts is against the Law No 24/2009 Article 57 regarding the use of State Symbols.

This allegation was denied by the other guest at the talk show i.e. Historian Asvi Warman Adam who said that Article 52 of said Law allow the use of a State Symbol among others for those who are representing the country. He also said that our national football team has also used the Garuda symbol when they played against the Soviet Union at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956.
These statement was supported by lawyer Amir Syamsuddin who also urged David Tobing not to take advantage of the national team's present popularity.

Considering that our national team has been doing their best to represent our country in the AFF-Suzuki Cup, and we expect that they will win the tournament, I hope that David Tobing would be wise and withdraw the lawsuit, especially that now that the public has know about him and his protest. And if he persists, I hope that the judges would refuse his lawsuit. 


Sources :
-  Garuda di Seragam Timnas PSSI Menuai Gugatan (Hukumonline)
-  Lambang Garuda di kostum Timnas Digugat (MetroTV)
-  Kemendiknas Diskusikan gugatan lambang Garuda di kaos Timnas (Primaironline) 

Photo :  Courtesy of Kaskus.

Garuda's Flight to Amsterdam

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has just been certified as a Four-Star Airline by a London based flight service certification institution, Skytrax, which places Garuda in the same rank as 26 other four-star airlines.
This has motivated Garuda's management to revitalize the Jakarta-Amsterdam-Jakarta flight, via Abu Dhabi, starting 1 June 2010. Please find below an article in Kompas for reference.

Garuda to Fly Jakarta-Abu Dhabi-Amsterdam Route in June
Jumat, 26 Februari 2010 | 19:17 WIB

SURABAYA, KOMPAS.com - Now officially a four star airline by the standard of Skytrax in terms of international flight service quality, Garuda Indonesia will expand its international route on June 1, 2010. The new route is Jakarta-Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-Amsterdam.

"The new international route is categorized as the profitable one," stated PT Garuda Indonesia's General Director and Director of HRD, Achirina, Friday.

Garuda is also preparing two other new routes to London (England) and the United States.

Achirina claimed that, other than expanding its international routes, Garuda Indonesia is also improving its innovation and creativity to aim at being a five-star airline. "In stages we target Garuda Indonesia to be a five-star airline by 2014, considering that now it's already a four star."

Garuda Indonesia was certified as a four-star airline from the international flight service certification institution, Skytrax, based in London, England. The certification places Garuda Indonesia in the same rank as 26 other four-star airlines. The considerations for certification are based on the ground and inflight services.

So far there are only six airlines with five star certification: Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Kingfisher Airlines, and Asiana Airlines. (C5-10/C17-09)

The Garuda Emblem & Armani

The Garuda (picture below: right) is the national emblem of Indonesia which is considered sacred by the Indonesian people. So when famous fashion designer Georgio Armani used a logo (picture below: left)  basically similar to the Garuda, a group of online activists and lawmakers have threatened to suit Armani for infringement of the national emblem. Please find below an article from The Jakarta Globe.

Indonesia Lawmakers Threaten Suit Over Armani Logo

A new battle is brewing over the use of yet another Indonesian cultural symbol. But this time the alleged culprit is not in Malaysia but a tenant at two upscale shopping malls in Jakarta: Armani.

Members of a popular local Internet forum, Kaskus.com, and some lawmakers claimed on Monday that popular designer label Armani Exchange had ripped off Indonesia’s national symbol, the Garuda Pancasila, for use on a new T-shirt.

“Many of the members were not happy with that,” said Retno Wulandari, 25, a boutique owner and fashion enthusiast who is a member for the forum.

Not missing out on a chance to score political points on an issue of national pride, some members of the House of Representatives threatened to sue Armani Exchange for willfully desecrating the Garuda Pancasila. The offense carries a prison term of one year or a Rp 100 million ($10,700) fine.

“It’s very sensitive using a nation’s symbol for business profit. The Garuda is very sacred to us as a nation,” said Eva Kusuma Sundari, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P
"It's such an insult for us.”

The Armani Exchange A|X Studded Eagle T-Shirt, available at its stores at Grand Indonesia and Senayan City, as well as online, looks nearly identical to the Indonesian national symbol, except the images of a bull and banyan tree were replaced by an “A” and “X.” Also, the national motto “Bhineka Tunggal Ika” (“Unity in Diversity”) located on the bottom of the symbol was replaced by “Armani Exchange.”

Ravelra Supit Lubis, marketing communications manager of Club 21, an official distributor of the Armani Exchange line in Indonesia, agreed that the T-shirt, printed in November, was similar to the Garuda Pancasila symbol.

“But it’s not something new because we have produced several versions of the shirt,” she said. “They have their own concept, and as a distributor we have no option to not order it.”
Hanifa Ambadar, 30, founder of the Indonesian style and beauty Web site Fashionese Daily, pointed out that many Armani T-shirts have a modified eagle.

“I have noticed the debate on the Garuda logo,” she said. “I think we should be happy with that: One of the [designer] brand products uses our country’s symbol. Honestly, it makes me want to buy one.”
Mustafa Kamal, chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction at the House, said lawmakers would examine the similarities between the Garuda Pancasila and Armani T-shirt.

“If we find it a form of insult to us as a nation, we will sue the company,” Mustafa said. “But if it’s simply creativity, we will surely let people have their freedom of expression.”

Lessons from Japan Airlines

Japanese national flag carrier Japan Airlines (JAL) has recently announced its bankruptcy and requested for legal protection against actions that might be taken by its creditors.

According to Kompas, there are several reasons i.e. JAL cannot pay its debts which totals US$ 25 Billion, tough competition, as flag carrier it should fly unprofitable routes, low passenger occupancy and mismanagement.

This report is very surprising considering that as a flag carrier, JAL obviously can always rely on the fullest support from the Japanese government which is one of the most economically powerful countries in the world.
But the effect financial crisis that plagued the world few years ago seems to be still going on, and the Japanese government has not other choice but to let JAL bankrupted.

At a time when free fight business competition is the rule of the game, I hope that what happened to JAL would make the management of our national flag carrier Garuda to be very careful in managing the company's finance, and make best efforts to improve quality of services so that customers would always love them and other people would want to do the same. Otherwise, other airlines would come and take them away.

Easy way to get Indonesian Visa

Japanese travelers can now obtain Indonesian Visa on board a plane if they fly on Garuda. Here is an article quoted from The Jakarta Post.

Garuda launches new services to net more Japanese travelers

State airline company PT Garuda Indonesia, in cooperation with the immigration office, has launched an onboard visa application service on inbound flights from Japan.

The introduction of the service coincides with the launch of a premium tour and travel operation in Japan, managed by Garuda’s local partner and subsidiary.

The maiden flight of the “visa on board” service began Thursday, carrying approximately 180 tourists from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali.

Each tourist is required, after checking in their baggage at the airport, to pay US$10 for a seven-day visa or $25 for a 30-day visa at a designated counter.

The latter is extendable for another 30 days without extra charge.

Two immigration officers are stationed in all Garuda flights from Japan to process the tourist visa applications.

Garuda currently flies to Narita, Chubu International Airport in Nagoya, and Kansai International Airport in Osaka.

Non-Japanese travelers on these flights can also make use of the “visa on board” service.

Those granted visa clearance are given a pass card that allows them to go through immigration checkpoints at Indonesian airports without further inspection.

Garuda CEO Emirsyah Satar dubbed the new service “the only one of its kind in the global airline industry”, adding it would also be introduced in the airline’s flights from South Korea and China.

Aboard the plane with Emirsyah to celebrate the maiden flight were Indonesian Ambassador to Japan Jusuf Anwar, Director General for Immigration Muhammad Indra, and Culture and Tourism Ministry Director for Marketing I Gde Pitana.

Indra said the new service was a step forward from the current visa-on-arrival, and a product of the office’s first 100-day program.

“This service is also a response to inconveniences that may occur in the visa-on-arrival procedures at airports,” he said.

He played down the possibility of security threats from the new visa clearance system, saying travelers from Japan posed a low security threat.

Pitana praised the new initiative, saying it would do a lot to detract from Indonesia’s oft-ridiculed airport-based immigration services.

“The tourism industry is really about keeping up an image, and the immigration service is the first thing travelers have to deal with,” he said.

He added he had high hopes for the new service to be able to help boost the number of Japanese travelers visiting Indonesia.

From January to November last year, the number of visitors to Indonesia from Japan reached 405,000, or a 17 percent drop from the same period in 2008.

Pitana said the fall was largely due to the impact of the global economic crisis on Japanese consumers.

To further develop the Japanese market, Garuda, in cooperation with its local partner Good Luck Tour Co., launched Wednesday its Japan operation of the Garuda Orient Holiday, a tour and travel package that offers wider alternatives for travel activities for premium travelers, provided by Garuda subsidiary Aerowisata.

Aerowisata’s Japan operation is the fourth of its kind after Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.

Among destinations included in the Orient Holiday package are diving adventures in Bunaken and Raja Ampat, tours of historical sites such as Borobudur and Prambanan, ecotourism in Komodo Island and Bali, and cultural tours to the Saung Udjo Angklung Studio and batik producers in Surakarta.

“With the Orient Holiday operation now in Japan, we expect to boost visitor numbers to Indonesia using Garuda by at least 10 percent,” Emirsyah said.

Freeport & Garuda

More than 40 years control over Gold and Copper minings in the Province of Papua, has seemed to make PT. Freeport Indonesia felt that it has privileges in the Province.

This was shown when Freeport refused to provide fuel to the planes of Indonesia's flag carrier Garuda at Freeport's owned airport in Timika, Papua, because Garuda refused to bend its flight regulation.

The story began when Garuda flight GA 652 from Jakarta to Jayapura, via Denpasar and Timika could not land at Timika on Saturday, 2 January, due to very bad weather conditions, so instead the aircraft landed at the provincial capital Jayapura.

On Sunday morning, that plane first needed to complete its flight as GA 652 by flying to Timika before returning to Jayapura and then flying back to Timika as flight GA 653.

At that time, Freeport's President Director Armando Mahler and several top officials who were waiting for flight GA 653 requested that they be allowed to board flight GA 652 instead of wait for the plane to make a return flight to Timika without them.

The request was denied by Garuda' pilot because, as the officials were told by the pilot at the time, according to Garuda's regulation, diverted flights could not accept any additional passengers. If the pilot takes more passengers, he must make a new manifest, which will take a long time. The delay would cause other passengers in Jayapura to wait even longer, and would risk increasing pilot fatigue.

Very disappointed with the incident, Freeport sent a letter to Garuda saying that the Timika airport would not provide fuel for Garuda until further notice. Besides, Freeport wants a written apology from Garuda.

On Monday, 4 January, the Timika airport start providing fuel to Garuda again. But on the same day, Garuda sent a letter to Freeport and Timika airport operator, stating that there will not be any further flights to Timika.

Further, the Department of Transportation has summons officials of PT. Freeport Indonesia to explain about the incident.

For details on the above, please click here, here, here and here.

Considering that Freeport and Garuda, need each other, I hope that they both can maintain better mutual understandings in the future.
But I also hope that Garuda would improve its services so that it can compete healthily with other airlines in Indonesia and around the world.


Photo : Courtesy of The Jakarta Globe.