In his statement before starting the cabinet meeting Yudhoyono called on all ministers concerned to explain to the public about the process of procurement of the Chinese made MA-60 plane that crashed in Kaimana, West Papua, recently killing 27 people on board.
He said the public deserved clear explanation regarding the process of procurement of the plane that is now creating a polemic.
"What is important is clear explanation. Certainly the rightest parties to give the explanation are the Merpati leadership itself and the state enterprises ministers now and when the procurement was made," he said.
He said the transportation minister also needed to give explanation regarding the regulation and licensing for MA 60 planes that have no Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) license.
After the explanation he hoped no finger pointing or blame game would occur again regarding the procurement or the cause of the crash on May 7, 2011.
"Everything could be explained in a right way and correctly," he said.
President Yudhoyono said all ministers in the first Unity Cabinet actually knew about the procurement of the planes as its process had been started as of 2006.
"Those who were in the first Unity Cabinet must understand well about the Merpati plane procurement. But those who were not in the first Unity Cabinet need to hear directly from the ministers concerned regarding the process of procurement of the Chinese made planes," he said.
The cabinet meeting that day was attended by all ministers of the second Unity Cabinet as well as vice president Boediono.
During the meeting President wished to hear directly from the ministers concerned with regard to the incident and on how to prevent it from happening again in the future.(*)
(H-YH/HAJM/a014)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
