Stephen Fitzpatrick
Jakarta correspondent April 06, 2009
The Australian
FORMER Garuda pilot Marwoto Komar has appealed after being found guilty of criminal negligence over the plane disaster in which 21 people, including five Australians, died.
Captain Marwoto has been sentenced to 2 years' jail over the crash in March 7, 2007.
The guilty verdict came despite a last-minute plea from Indonesia's pilot federation calling for the pilot to be acquitted.
The Australians killed in the crash were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Caroline Mellish, the younger sister of Morgan Mellish, told The Australian: “Justice has not been served – he was not given the maximum sentence.”
“If they think his wholly and solely responsible then two years is not enough. And if they think he’s not they should have mentioned the failings of the system in their judgement.”
Captain Marwoto immediately appealed the sentence and was free to go home until the next hearing. His family members were in tears after the verdict and left the courtroom.
A majority of a panel of five judges sentenced Komar in the Sleman District Court.
Prosecutors wanted Komar jailed for four years, and have said there is no evidence to support his claim that the Boeing 737 malfunctioned.
The maximum available sentence for the crime is seven years in prison.
Investigators have said Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at about twice the safe speed.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Garuda death crash pilot jailed
Tom Allard
SMH April 7, 2009
The pilot of the Garuda plane that crashed in Yogyakarta two years ago, killing five Australians, has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Marwoto Komar was today found guilty of criminal negligence. Prosecutors had sought a four-year jail term.
One of the panel of five judges remarked that the sentence was about the prevention of future accidents rather than revenge.
The Australians killed were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Komar remained impassive as the three-hour verdict was read out.
Caroline Mellish, the sister of Mr Mellish, remained stony-faced as Komar learned of his fate.
Outside the court, Ms Mellish said: "I don't feel that justice was served."
The Boeing jet skidded off the runway at Yogyakarta airport in March 2007, after landing at twice the recommended speed, bursting into flames as its passengers frantically tried to escape.
Passengers included journalists and police officers who were following the then Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on a tour of Indonesia. Many only chose to be on the flight at the last moment.
An investigation by transport officials into the crash showed Komar ignored 15 automated warnings to abort the landing attempt. The court also heard he had ignored verbal warnings from his co-pilot urging him to go around.
Herald journalist Cynthia Banham was badly burnt and broke her back in the incident but defied the odds and made a remarkable recovery. She is now the paper's diplomatic editor.
Last month, Komar had made his final pleas of innocence to the panel of judges who were considering charges that he was criminally negligent in causing the crash.
He blamed his co-pilot and technical problems and his legal team insisted that the death toll of 21 was largely due to the late response of fire engines.
Komar's latest defence was a departure from his previous explanations and have centred on a sudden bout of turbulence knocking the plane off course.
The accusation of culpability by his co-pilot, Gagam Rohmana, follows earlier evidence from Gagam that he had warned the pilot to abort the landing and "go around" but was ignored.
Survivors of the crash had told how the front of the plane quickly burst into flames after impact.
One of the judges dissented and said that he did not think the pilot should have been found guilty.
Komar will appeal the decision.
Tom Allard is the Herald's Indonesia Correspondent.
SMH April 7, 2009
The pilot of the Garuda plane that crashed in Yogyakarta two years ago, killing five Australians, has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Marwoto Komar was today found guilty of criminal negligence. Prosecutors had sought a four-year jail term.
One of the panel of five judges remarked that the sentence was about the prevention of future accidents rather than revenge.
The Australians killed were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Komar remained impassive as the three-hour verdict was read out.
Caroline Mellish, the sister of Mr Mellish, remained stony-faced as Komar learned of his fate.
Outside the court, Ms Mellish said: "I don't feel that justice was served."
The Boeing jet skidded off the runway at Yogyakarta airport in March 2007, after landing at twice the recommended speed, bursting into flames as its passengers frantically tried to escape.
Passengers included journalists and police officers who were following the then Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on a tour of Indonesia. Many only chose to be on the flight at the last moment.
An investigation by transport officials into the crash showed Komar ignored 15 automated warnings to abort the landing attempt. The court also heard he had ignored verbal warnings from his co-pilot urging him to go around.
Herald journalist Cynthia Banham was badly burnt and broke her back in the incident but defied the odds and made a remarkable recovery. She is now the paper's diplomatic editor.
Last month, Komar had made his final pleas of innocence to the panel of judges who were considering charges that he was criminally negligent in causing the crash.
He blamed his co-pilot and technical problems and his legal team insisted that the death toll of 21 was largely due to the late response of fire engines.
Komar's latest defence was a departure from his previous explanations and have centred on a sudden bout of turbulence knocking the plane off course.
The accusation of culpability by his co-pilot, Gagam Rohmana, follows earlier evidence from Gagam that he had warned the pilot to abort the landing and "go around" but was ignored.
Survivors of the crash had told how the front of the plane quickly burst into flames after impact.
One of the judges dissented and said that he did not think the pilot should have been found guilty.
Komar will appeal the decision.
Tom Allard is the Herald's Indonesia Correspondent.
Plea for Garuda air crash pilot to be acquitted
Stephen Fitzpatrick
Jakarta correspondent April 06, 2009
The Australian
INDONESIA'S pilots federation has issued an urgent plea for former Garuda captain Marwoto Komar to be acquitted, more than two years after the Yogyakarta air disaster that killed 21 people, including five Australians.
A verdict is expected today in the case against Captain Marwoto, who is charged with criminal negligence in crashing the aircraft on March 7, 2007.
Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, AusAID country head Allison Sudradjat, Australian embassy public relations staffer Elizabeth O'Neill and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish died in the crash.
Sydney Morning Herald reporter Cynthia Banham was seriously injured.
The Australians were all travelling to the central Java city in connection with a visit there by then foreign minister Alexander Downer.
Family members and friends of the victims plan to be in the court for today's verdict. Prosecutors had initially asked for a maximum penalty of life in prison, arguing that Captain Marwoto deliberately crashed the Boeing 737-400, causing it to burst into flames after running off the end of the runway at Yogyakarta's Adisucipto airport.
However, they downgraded that charge towards the end of the trial, conceding they did not have enough evidence, and have settled on the lesser one of negligence, carrying a maximum penalty of seven years' prison.
But Manotar Napitupulu, from the Indonesian Pilots Federation, told The Australian it was already "a heavy enough penalty" that Captain Marwoto had had his pilot's licence revoked, and insisted any further sanctions should come from the transport department or from Garuda.
"We hope he will be set free, not jailed, that's clear," Captain Napitupulu said. "We view this as a matter that should not be a criminal issue, since if there's an error it should be dealt with by the Transport Ministry or by the relevant airline company.
"His licence has been revoked, that's the heaviest penalty possible for a pilot, there's nothing above that - so we hope the judges have the conscience andknowledge to set him free."
Captain Marwoto, who attempted to land the early-morning commuter jet at twice the allowable speed, has variously claimed weather conditions and mechanical failure were the cause of the crash.
However, accident safety investigators found that he knew as early as 19km out from the landing that his "glide slope" was too steep for a safe landing, but he refused to correct his approach.
Although much has been made of the fact he apparently ignored 15 last-minute automated cockpit warnings as the aircraft approached the runway, prosecutors have argued he should have been able to avoid the crash simply by following standard procedure at least 10 minutes earlier.
Co-pilot Gagam Rachmat, who initially said he had urged his captain to "go around" as they approached the runway at 221 knots - rather than the correct speed, 140 knots - also changed his evidence on the stand.
Under questioning last year by the prosecution and by Captain Marwoto's lawyers, Captain Gagam declared that he had "blacked out" as the plane hit the runway and no longer remembered anything of the crash.
Story Tools
Jakarta correspondent April 06, 2009
The Australian
INDONESIA'S pilots federation has issued an urgent plea for former Garuda captain Marwoto Komar to be acquitted, more than two years after the Yogyakarta air disaster that killed 21 people, including five Australians.
A verdict is expected today in the case against Captain Marwoto, who is charged with criminal negligence in crashing the aircraft on March 7, 2007.
Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, AusAID country head Allison Sudradjat, Australian embassy public relations staffer Elizabeth O'Neill and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish died in the crash.
Sydney Morning Herald reporter Cynthia Banham was seriously injured.
The Australians were all travelling to the central Java city in connection with a visit there by then foreign minister Alexander Downer.
Family members and friends of the victims plan to be in the court for today's verdict. Prosecutors had initially asked for a maximum penalty of life in prison, arguing that Captain Marwoto deliberately crashed the Boeing 737-400, causing it to burst into flames after running off the end of the runway at Yogyakarta's Adisucipto airport.
However, they downgraded that charge towards the end of the trial, conceding they did not have enough evidence, and have settled on the lesser one of negligence, carrying a maximum penalty of seven years' prison.
But Manotar Napitupulu, from the Indonesian Pilots Federation, told The Australian it was already "a heavy enough penalty" that Captain Marwoto had had his pilot's licence revoked, and insisted any further sanctions should come from the transport department or from Garuda.
"We hope he will be set free, not jailed, that's clear," Captain Napitupulu said. "We view this as a matter that should not be a criminal issue, since if there's an error it should be dealt with by the Transport Ministry or by the relevant airline company.
"His licence has been revoked, that's the heaviest penalty possible for a pilot, there's nothing above that - so we hope the judges have the conscience andknowledge to set him free."
Captain Marwoto, who attempted to land the early-morning commuter jet at twice the allowable speed, has variously claimed weather conditions and mechanical failure were the cause of the crash.
However, accident safety investigators found that he knew as early as 19km out from the landing that his "glide slope" was too steep for a safe landing, but he refused to correct his approach.
Although much has been made of the fact he apparently ignored 15 last-minute automated cockpit warnings as the aircraft approached the runway, prosecutors have argued he should have been able to avoid the crash simply by following standard procedure at least 10 minutes earlier.
Co-pilot Gagam Rachmat, who initially said he had urged his captain to "go around" as they approached the runway at 221 knots - rather than the correct speed, 140 knots - also changed his evidence on the stand.
Under questioning last year by the prosecution and by Captain Marwoto's lawyers, Captain Gagam declared that he had "blacked out" as the plane hit the runway and no longer remembered anything of the crash.
Story Tools
Friday, April 3, 2009
Garuda pilot to face judgment
Daily Mercury
3rd April 2009
AN Indonesian pilot whose plane crashed, killing 21 people, including five Australians, will learn next week whether he is to be jailed for criminal negligence.
Marwoto Komar's Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and burst into flames on March 7, 2007.
Investigators say Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at twice the safe speed.
Despite initially blaming the disaster on strong winds, Komar during his trial sought to blame problems with the plane's steering and stabilisation systems.
But prosecutors - who want Komar jailed for four years - say there is no evidence to support his claim that the plane malfunctioned.
The Sleman District Court will deliver its verdict on Monday [6/4/09].
Prosecutors abandoned a charge that Komar deliberately crashed the Garuda Indonesia plane, conceding they did not have enough evidence to back it up.
If proved, that charge could have seen Komar jailed for life.
Komar's pilot licence was suspended and he was sacked by Garuda after the crash, which was one of several fatal Indonesian airline crashes in 2007.
The Australians killed in the crash were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Five other Australians survived the crash, some of whom were seriously injured.
Despite some improvements since 2007, Indonesia, which relies heavily on air links across the archipelago, still has one of Asia's worst air safety records.
3rd April 2009
AN Indonesian pilot whose plane crashed, killing 21 people, including five Australians, will learn next week whether he is to be jailed for criminal negligence.
Marwoto Komar's Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and burst into flames on March 7, 2007.
Investigators say Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at twice the safe speed.
Despite initially blaming the disaster on strong winds, Komar during his trial sought to blame problems with the plane's steering and stabilisation systems.
But prosecutors - who want Komar jailed for four years - say there is no evidence to support his claim that the plane malfunctioned.
The Sleman District Court will deliver its verdict on Monday [6/4/09].
Prosecutors abandoned a charge that Komar deliberately crashed the Garuda Indonesia plane, conceding they did not have enough evidence to back it up.
If proved, that charge could have seen Komar jailed for life.
Komar's pilot licence was suspended and he was sacked by Garuda after the crash, which was one of several fatal Indonesian airline crashes in 2007.
The Australians killed in the crash were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Five other Australians survived the crash, some of whom were seriously injured.
Despite some improvements since 2007, Indonesia, which relies heavily on air links across the archipelago, still has one of Asia's worst air safety records.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Mellish legacy lives on in Indonesian media
Stephen Fitzpatrick
Jakarta correspondent
March 30, 2009 The Australian
INDONESIAN business journalism training took a step forward last week with a workshop in the name of Morgan Mellish, The Australian Financial Review reporter who died in the 2007 Garuda air disaster in Yogyakarta.
The four-day program, entitled Financial Literacy for Journalists, was made possible with funds raised at a Jakarta lunch speech given by Kevin Rudd last year.
Jointly run by the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club and the Indonesian Association for Media Development, the program attracted a dozen reporters from the archipelago.
Over the four days they ran through an intensive series of sessions aimed at improving general news reporters' ability to make sense of balance sheets, government and company budgets and annual reports, and to tease out the crucial nexus between politics and business.
Launching the fund last June, the Prime Minister said the program's emphasis on financial analysis was something Mellish "would have liked. (He) represented the finest tradition of Australian journalists and Australian foreign correspondents".
Each participant in the program will now take skills covered in the course and apply them to a particular story, with examiners to assess the results.
One journalist, Bima Marzuki from RCTI television in Jakarta, said he planned to produce a series of reports on gaps in the government budget in Nusa Tenggara Timor province -- Indonesia's vast easternmost administrative district, which includes the islands of Sumba, Flores, Maluku and West Timor.
"What we have found is that the Government there allocates up to 80 per cent of its budgets for administrative costs -- things like public servants' uniforms -- and only 20 per cent to actual projects, education and so on," Marzuki said.
He added that journalistic independence was still difficult in Indonesia, particularly with a high level of editorial intervention by proprietors and an extremely low level of union organisation.
"Even where there is (union membership), a lot of pressure is usually applied by the owners," he said. "For instance, people are told that if they're a member of AJI (the main journalists' union), they won't receive salary bonuses, that kind of thing."
Other projects by participants in the Mellish fund included a story about a district head in Java who was directing his local government's budget towards funding the local professional football team, and regional development funding being spent on a major cigarette company's marketing and research budget.
Coincidentally, the previous week saw the wrapping-up for this year of the Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award -- a scholarship jointly run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australia Indonesia Institute.
O'Neill, who also died in the Garuda crash, worked in the Australian embassy's public affairs section in Jakarta, and was a vital linking point between the two countries' media outlets.
Winners of the 2009 award were The Australian Financial Review's Canberra-based reporter Sophie Morris, who spent a month in Indonesia meeting government, business and other leaders, and Kartika Sari, the foreign news editor of Jakarta newspaper Rakyat Merdeka, who travelled to Australia for a series of interviews.
The newspaper and the embassy had had a prickly relationship for a long time. But a long bout of diplomacy seems to have won Rakyat Merdeka over.
Jakarta correspondent
March 30, 2009 The Australian
INDONESIAN business journalism training took a step forward last week with a workshop in the name of Morgan Mellish, The Australian Financial Review reporter who died in the 2007 Garuda air disaster in Yogyakarta.
The four-day program, entitled Financial Literacy for Journalists, was made possible with funds raised at a Jakarta lunch speech given by Kevin Rudd last year.
Jointly run by the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club and the Indonesian Association for Media Development, the program attracted a dozen reporters from the archipelago.
Over the four days they ran through an intensive series of sessions aimed at improving general news reporters' ability to make sense of balance sheets, government and company budgets and annual reports, and to tease out the crucial nexus between politics and business.
Launching the fund last June, the Prime Minister said the program's emphasis on financial analysis was something Mellish "would have liked. (He) represented the finest tradition of Australian journalists and Australian foreign correspondents".
Each participant in the program will now take skills covered in the course and apply them to a particular story, with examiners to assess the results.
One journalist, Bima Marzuki from RCTI television in Jakarta, said he planned to produce a series of reports on gaps in the government budget in Nusa Tenggara Timor province -- Indonesia's vast easternmost administrative district, which includes the islands of Sumba, Flores, Maluku and West Timor.
"What we have found is that the Government there allocates up to 80 per cent of its budgets for administrative costs -- things like public servants' uniforms -- and only 20 per cent to actual projects, education and so on," Marzuki said.
He added that journalistic independence was still difficult in Indonesia, particularly with a high level of editorial intervention by proprietors and an extremely low level of union organisation.
"Even where there is (union membership), a lot of pressure is usually applied by the owners," he said. "For instance, people are told that if they're a member of AJI (the main journalists' union), they won't receive salary bonuses, that kind of thing."
Other projects by participants in the Mellish fund included a story about a district head in Java who was directing his local government's budget towards funding the local professional football team, and regional development funding being spent on a major cigarette company's marketing and research budget.
Coincidentally, the previous week saw the wrapping-up for this year of the Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award -- a scholarship jointly run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australia Indonesia Institute.
O'Neill, who also died in the Garuda crash, worked in the Australian embassy's public affairs section in Jakarta, and was a vital linking point between the two countries' media outlets.
Winners of the 2009 award were The Australian Financial Review's Canberra-based reporter Sophie Morris, who spent a month in Indonesia meeting government, business and other leaders, and Kartika Sari, the foreign news editor of Jakarta newspaper Rakyat Merdeka, who travelled to Australia for a series of interviews.
The newspaper and the embassy had had a prickly relationship for a long time. But a long bout of diplomacy seems to have won Rakyat Merdeka over.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Garuda pilot 'should be jailed for four years'
Tom Allard in Jakarta
SMH February 24, 2009
THE pilot at the controls when a Garuda plane crashed in Yogyakarta killing 21 people, including five Australians, should be jailed for four years for causing the accident through criminal negligence, prosecutors have told a panel of judges.
The sentence request angered Captain Marwoto Komar's lawyers but was far less than the jail term prosecutors could have asked for if they had decided he had deliberately caused the crash on March 7, 2007. "The air at the time was clear, the runway was clear and no other plane was about to take off," prosecutors told Sleman District Court in Yogyakarta. "The defendant was not careful enough … [and] is legally and convincingly proven to have caused the death of 21 people and left 32 others with serious injuries."
Yesterday the court heard that on approach the plane was travelling at 240 knots, about twice the speed recommended for a safe landing. It also tried to land from 5000 feet, rather than the appropriate height of 4000 feet.
Despite being told twice by his co-pilot, Gagam Rohmana, to abort the landing and "go around", Komar ignored the warnings. Earlier, the court was told he also ignored more than a dozen automated warnings, including blaring sirens in the cockpit, before the crash.
Komar has insisted the crash was due to sudden turbulence. The court has heard evidence from air traffic controllers and meteorologists that there was no weather event detected to back the pilot's claim.
In his testimony last year, the co-pilot confirmed he had urged Komar to abandon the landing and try again. But, in sometimes contradictory evidence, he also said he blacked out before the accident, citing turbulence.
The crash caused an outpouring of emotion and concern in Australia, not least because it was the latest in a series of plane crashes in Indonesia. There have been no big accidents since but prosecutors have taken the unusual step of prosecuting Komar under the penal code, rather than its air transport laws.
His lawyers maintain it is improper for their client to be charged as a criminal under the penal code. "The prosecutors' spirit was only to punish the defendant," said Mohammad Assegaf, the main defence lawyer. "The article [in the penal code] was aimed at terrorists not at airplane crew. Besides, when a Garuda plane crashed down in the Bengawan Solo river in 2003, which caused one death and the plane was broken, why wasn't the pilot taken to the court - and he is still flying until today?"
The Australians killed were an AusAID official, Allison Sudradjat; the diplomat Liz O'Neill; federal police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and the Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish. They were following the then foreign affairs minister, Alexander Downer, on a visit to Indonesia.
Mr Downer had earlier taken a government business jet to Yogyakarta, which was too small to fit the entourage.
If the judges agree with the prosecutors, Komar will serve less than four years in jail because the three months he has already spent in prison will be deducted from the sentence. The trial continues on March 10.
with Yuyuk Sugarman
SMH February 24, 2009
THE pilot at the controls when a Garuda plane crashed in Yogyakarta killing 21 people, including five Australians, should be jailed for four years for causing the accident through criminal negligence, prosecutors have told a panel of judges.
The sentence request angered Captain Marwoto Komar's lawyers but was far less than the jail term prosecutors could have asked for if they had decided he had deliberately caused the crash on March 7, 2007. "The air at the time was clear, the runway was clear and no other plane was about to take off," prosecutors told Sleman District Court in Yogyakarta. "The defendant was not careful enough … [and] is legally and convincingly proven to have caused the death of 21 people and left 32 others with serious injuries."
Yesterday the court heard that on approach the plane was travelling at 240 knots, about twice the speed recommended for a safe landing. It also tried to land from 5000 feet, rather than the appropriate height of 4000 feet.
Despite being told twice by his co-pilot, Gagam Rohmana, to abort the landing and "go around", Komar ignored the warnings. Earlier, the court was told he also ignored more than a dozen automated warnings, including blaring sirens in the cockpit, before the crash.
Komar has insisted the crash was due to sudden turbulence. The court has heard evidence from air traffic controllers and meteorologists that there was no weather event detected to back the pilot's claim.
In his testimony last year, the co-pilot confirmed he had urged Komar to abandon the landing and try again. But, in sometimes contradictory evidence, he also said he blacked out before the accident, citing turbulence.
The crash caused an outpouring of emotion and concern in Australia, not least because it was the latest in a series of plane crashes in Indonesia. There have been no big accidents since but prosecutors have taken the unusual step of prosecuting Komar under the penal code, rather than its air transport laws.
His lawyers maintain it is improper for their client to be charged as a criminal under the penal code. "The prosecutors' spirit was only to punish the defendant," said Mohammad Assegaf, the main defence lawyer. "The article [in the penal code] was aimed at terrorists not at airplane crew. Besides, when a Garuda plane crashed down in the Bengawan Solo river in 2003, which caused one death and the plane was broken, why wasn't the pilot taken to the court - and he is still flying until today?"
The Australians killed were an AusAID official, Allison Sudradjat; the diplomat Liz O'Neill; federal police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and the Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish. They were following the then foreign affairs minister, Alexander Downer, on a visit to Indonesia.
Mr Downer had earlier taken a government business jet to Yogyakarta, which was too small to fit the entourage.
If the judges agree with the prosecutors, Komar will serve less than four years in jail because the three months he has already spent in prison will be deducted from the sentence. The trial continues on March 10.
with Yuyuk Sugarman
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