Indonesia should ignore EU`s flight ban, legislator says

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Mutammimul Ula, a legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said Indonesia should ignore the European Union (EU)`s ban on Indonesian airline flights because it was a unilateral decision.
"We support the firm stance (of the Indonesian government). It`s quite correct. We support the government`s strong statement rejecting the EU`s decision to maintain its flight ban on Indonesia airlines," he told ANTARA here on Friday.

He said Indonesia had duly responded to the European Commission`s findings on the safety of Indonesian airlines and made a lot of improvements in the matter.

"Therefore, the EU`s stand should be ignored because since the beginning the EU has not shown any clear sign it will lift the flight ban," he said.

He said the European Union had not been transparent in arriving at its decision.

The EU should have encouraged the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to decide on lifting the flight ban, he said.

EU imposed the flight ban on the Indonesian airlines in July 2007, citing unsafe flights as reason.

EU representative Pierre Phillipe recently said the EU could not yet lift its flight ban on all Indonesian airlines because they still fell short of the flight safety standards set by the ICAO of which Indonesia is also a member.

The Indonesian government had expressed its disappointment about the EU`s decision to continue barring Indonesian airline flights from its air space. (*)

Antara Edisi Jum'at, 1 Agustus 2008