"It is very ridiculous, because we have the capacity to build the CN-235, not Habibie, but your father (the late Prof. Dr. Said Djauharsjah Jenie, former Assessment and Application of Technology Agency /BPPT chief who designed it)," Habibie told hundreds of BPPT researchers at the launching of the book "Empat Windu BPPT" (BPPT`s 8th anniversary) at the science and technology research center (Puspiptek) in Serpong, Banten, on Friday.
He deeply regretted for the choice of a plane which had no Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certificate and which operated only with the authority of the Chinese and Indonesian authorities.
He said when building commercial planes like the CN-235, he had to give a quality guarantee that each of the products must be able to take-off, fly and land a 100,00 times without movements which could cause a change in the construction of the plane and endangers safety.
"Habibie is too proud? No, the ruling was made by the FAA. Failure in abiding this causes an impossibility for flying. The FAA guarantees flying safety throughout the world. It is the demand of the market," the former BPPT chief and research and technology minister under President Soeharto said.
He also pointed out that to obtain an FAA certificate, the IPTN has to proof that its products are of good quality with the components with FAA guarantee, and only after which it would be possible to place an order from other airline companies, and start designing and testing for eventual certification prior to manufacturing.
Actually the government should not allow PT Dirgantara Indonesia (former IPTN) which had been built with all kinds of difficulties, to die in vain without giving it a chance to proof its capabilities, he said.
He rejected all questions against himself asking why the government had to build IPTN which had cost huge sums of state money.
"If Indonesia already has companies like IBM or Philips, the there would be no need for the government to build the IPTN. We have not reached that level," he said.
He also said that what he had done was state policy and was a continuation of the old order`s policy, not Habibie`s project.
Habibie then told the younger generation of BPPT to continue with what had been fought by their seniors in designing national aircraft and other innovative products.(*)
(T.SYS/A/H-NG/A/A014) 20-05-2011 23:50:47
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
