Fresh accusations of sexual harassment have surfaced following the dismissal of the chief executive of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, Mr Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra, over the smuggling of a classic 1972 Harley-Davidson motorcycle on a flight to the country.
The former chief executive, better known as Mr Ari Askhara, has also been widely reported by the local media to allegedly have at least one stewardess as his mistress.
Newly appointed State-owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir told reporters that if any official in Garuda was involved in any kind of sexual harassment, they could be fired. He also pledged that he would enhance protection for female employees of Garuda.
But he was quick to add that the police would be the party with the prosecution authority to handle such alleged abuse, as it falls under a criminal law, stressing that he would focus more on matters related to corporate affairs.
Four other members of the airline's board of directors were dismissed on Monday, and acting senior officials have been appointed to fill the posts until a shareholders' meeting slated for Jan 22.
Mr Erick's remarks came after a series of tweets from an unnamed account, @digeeembok, that went viral. They were about a senior official in charge of managing the airline's cabin crew who had abused his authority, forcing a number of stewardesses to accompany the airline's senior management at karaoke bars during off-duty hours.
Though the person behind the Twitter account is unknown, local media has widely reported on the claims because of the details and photos it shares.
Senior police detective Alexander Yurikho said on Wednesday: "We are investigating this case, especially (finding the identity of) the owner of the Twitter account."
The Twitter account, which calls another official a pimp within Garuda, says the official punishes uncooperative stewardess by reassigning them to less favoured flight routes. The accused official, mentioned by @digeeembok by name, has filed a police report for defamation and a probe is under way.
The same Twitter account also accuses the dismissed CEO of having at least one stewardess as his mistress, saying she got preferred treatment from the management - at the expense of other stewardesses - and enjoyed facilities provided by Garuda's overseas branches.
On Monday, a group of stewardesses had, at their request, a meeting with Mr Erick and asked the minister to sack all senior officials close to the former CEO.
Yesterday, three unions in Garuda - its employees association (Sekarga), pilots association and cabin crew association - held a media briefing to call on all of the airline's employees to stay united, refrain from expressing conflicting opinions, and leave everything to the law enforcement agency and the government.
"Our focus is to keep operational sustainability, with the top priorities being safety and the best service to travellers," managing chairman Tomy Tampatty of Sekarga told reporters.
Mr Ari Askhara was one of 22 people listed on the flight of Garuda's newly procured Airbus jet from Toulouse early December.
The plane's cargo hold had an undeclared Harley-Davidson Shovelhead motorcycle, along with two high-end Brompton folding bikes, which deprived the country of between an estimated half billion rupiah and 1.5 billion rupiah (S$48,500 and S$146,000) in Customs duties for luxury items, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.
