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 The Hercules C-130B aircraft, which went into service half a
century ago, was carrying 122 people when it ploughed into a
residential area in the city of Medan shortly after taking off from
an airbase. The incident throws a renewed spotlight on Indonesia's
woeful air safety record.
A military spokesman said 135 people were confirmed dead, including
all those on board the plane. The MetroTV news channel said at least
141 bodies had been brought to a nearby hospital, indicating around
20 people were killed on the ground.
"There must be an evaluation of the age of planes and defense
systems," Widodo tweeted late on Tuesday, as earth movers recovered
the dead from rubble of twisted metal and smashed buildings.
The plane had been on its way from an air force base in Medan, one
of Indonesia's largest cities, to Tanjung Pinang in the Riau Islands
off Sumatra. Media said the pilot had asked to return to the base
because of technical problems.
Victims' families said on Wednesday that some passengers had paid to
get on the aircraft.
"My older brother bought a ticket to take the Hercules plane," a
victim's relative, who asked to be identified only by her initials
B.A., told Reuters. "He paid around 800,000 rupiah ($60)," she said,
adding that her brother was a civilian.
Others told local media their relatives had paid up to 1 million
rupiah to board the flight.
Air force chief Agus Supriatna denied passengers had been asked to
pay to board the military flight.
"What we fear is that there may be certain people offering to take
passengers on board without permission, that is what we are
investigating," Supriatna said.
The possible breach of rules once again puts scrutiny on the patchy
safety record of the Indonesian aviation sector, which is among the
fastest-growing in the region.
An AirAsia passenger jet crashed en route from the Indonesian city
of Surabaya to Singapore last December, killing all 162 people on
board. The incident prompted the government to introduce a slew of
regulations aimed at improving safety.
PRESSURE TO MODERNIZE
Widodo said he had ordered an in-depth investigation into the cause
of the incident and a "fundamental restructuring" of weapons
management and procurement.
"We should not just buy weapons, but shift towards modernizing our
weapons systems," he said in a televised statement on Wednesday.
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"Our defense industry should be involved, starting from production,
operation, maintenance. The main point is ... the procurement of
weapons should ultimately move toward an independent defense
industry."
According to the Aviation Safety Network, 10 fatal crashes involving
Indonesian military or police aircraft have occurred over the last
decade.
The Indonesian air force has now lost four C-130s, reducing its
transport reach in an archipelago that stretches more than 5,000 km
(3,000 miles) from its western to eastern tips.
The air force has grounded its remaining eight C-130Bs until
investigators discover the cause of the crash.
This week's crash could bring pressure on the president to spend
more on modernizing the air force.
"This incident shows us that we must renew our aircraft and our
military equipment," Pramono Anung, a lawmaker and member of the
parliamentary commission for defense, said in an interview.
"The Hercules is already old, many of our other systems are already
old. As parliament we will support giving more funding to the
military so that they can upgrade."
Although Indonesia accounted for nearly one-fifth of defense
spending by Southeast Asian countries last year, as a percentage of
GDP the amount was the lowest in the region at 0.8 percent,
according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data.
Widodo, who took office last year, has said he plans to double
military spending to $15 billion by 2020.
(Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor and Nilufar Rizki in
JAKARTA; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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