Coronavirus could put export of Dutch cycle expertise into gear

DutchNews, May 14, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The coronavirus crisis could boost the export of Dutch cycling infrastructure expertise and products as countries are turning to the bicycle for a safer means of transport, RTL Nieuws reports. 

‘Coronavirus is accelerating the cycling infrastructure projects of many cities,’ says Lucas Harms, who heads the Dutch Cycling Embassy, a network of Dutch companies specialising in products like bike parks and other bike-related infrastructure. 

As coronavirus is turning people away from using public transport, the local authorities in Brussels have been turning car lanes into bike lanes over the last few days, as has Paris, RTL said. And in Milan, plans have been presented to limit space for cars in favour of bikes. 

‘We don’t yet know if this is a temporary thing. People may be just panicking and improvising but the good thing is that a seed is planted,’ said Harms, whose Cycling Embassy has advised hundreds of local authorities around the world on emulating Dutch cycling infrastructure. 

To build an infrastructure for cycling involves expertise in many areas, Harms said. ‘You need traffic experts, marketing people to create awareness,  and policy advisors. We have a lot of companies with specialised knowledge, just think of the multi-storey bike parks, like the one at Amsterdam’s main railway station. We are used to them but in other countries they are far from usual.’ 

It is not known how much the export of cycle expertise and products is currently worth but, Harms said, the 60 partners of his network are all involved in projects abroad.

Icelandair Cuts 2,000 Staff Over Coronavirus Impact

Barron’s – AFP, Alexander Klein, April 28, 2020

Icelandic airline Icelandair announced deep job cuts due to the effects of the
novel coronavirus crisis

Icelandic airline Icelandair said Tuesday it would lay off about 2,000 of its staff as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact air travel "for the unforeseeable future."

In response to the impact, Icelandair said the company was preparing for an "extended period of minimum operations."

The company said that "the employment of around two thousand employees will be terminated," adding that crew, maintenance and ground operations, would be most affected.

Icelandair added that the "majority of the remaining employees continue in part-time roles" and those in full-time positions would be affected by salary reductions.

"These measures are very painful yet necessary. We are facing considerable uncertainty for the unforeseeable future," Bogi Nils Bogason, CEO of Icelandair, said in a statement.

Bogason added that they hoped to be able to offer those affected employment again once markets started to recover.

In 2018, Icelandair had some 4,600 full-time employees and carried 4.4 million passengers, according to the company.

As of Tuesday, Iceland had confirmed 1,795 cases of the new coronavirus and 10 deaths.

Related Article:

British Airways Set To Cut Up To 12,000 Jobs

Workers strike at Kuwait airport for better working conditions

Arab News - AFP, 11 November 2019

The right to strike is guaranteed for its citizens but foreign workers, who make up
a major portion of Kuwait’s labor force, do not have the right to strike. Above,
the Kuwaiti international airport. (AFP)

Monday’s strike by Kuwaiti staff did not affect flights, officials said

The right to strike is guaranteed for citizens in Kuwait, but such actions remain rare in the Gulf country

KUWAIT CITY: Hundreds of workers at Kuwait’s international airport held a one-hour strike Monday to demand better working conditions, threatening to stage longer walkouts in the coming days.

Ahmed Mohammed Al-Kandari, a union representative, said workers were calling for improved treatment and to be compensated for daily exposure to pollution and noise.

Monday’s strike by Kuwaiti staff did not affect flights, officials said.

The right to strike is guaranteed for citizens in Kuwait, but such actions remain rare in the Gulf country.

Foreign workers do not have the right to strike.

“Airport traffic is very normal,” Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah, head of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, said.

Another official, Saleh Al-Fadaghi, the airport’s director of operations, also said flights were not affected.

“During the one-hour strike, 19 flights were operated as scheduled. There were five departures and 14 arrivals,” he said.

Kandari said the purpose of the strike was not to disrupt operations but “to make our voices heard.”

He added that Kuwaiti workers would hold a further two-hour strike on Wednesday and a 24-hour strike on Sunday if their demands are not met.

Of 4,500 civil aviation employees, 1,500 took part in Monday’s strike, he said.

No cause found for fatal Stint crash, says public prosecutor

DutchNews, July 5, 2019

Two stints in action. Photo: Stintum.nl 

Dutch public prosecutors have said that the woman who was driving an electric Stint vehicle when it crashed into a train at Oss, killing four young children, apparently did everything she could to stop the vehicle. 

Menno Buntsma, a laywer who is representing the 33-year-old woman from Heesch, told Oproep Brabant that she was ‘relieved and emotional’ at the announcement. 

The OM prosecution service said in a news release that nine months after the fatal accident, it has not been able to find a specific cause. It said that witnesses confirmed that the driver ‘had done everything possible to stop the Stint in order to stop a collision.’ 

A technical investigation has found no clues about what went wrong and the NFI Dutch forensic institute is currently investigating the vehicle’s motor controller. 

Two children of four, one of six and another of eight died in the accident in September last year. An 11-year-old and the driver were seriously wounded. 

Transport minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen immediately banned the electric wagons – used by hundreds of daycare centres to ferry children around. New tough safety regulations agreed by MPs this year mean Stints will need technical upgrades and will then be allowed back on the roads in autumn, carrying eight children rather than 10. 

The OM says, however, that until the investigation is fully complete, it has made no decision about whether or not to pursue a prosecution.

Stints will be allowed back on Dutch roads after technical upgrade

DutchNews, April 17, 2019

Two stints in action. Photo: Stintum.nl

MPs have approved changes to the law which will allow electric wagons known as ‘Stints’ back onto the Dutch roads in time for the next school year. 

The Stints, which were used by hundreds of daycare centres to ferry children around, have been banned since a fatal crash last year in which four children died. 

The new rules include tougher safety specifications and technical requirements and the company which makes the Stint has said it will upgrade all 3,000 vehicles. The wagons will also be allowed to carry 10 rather than eight children, after MPs urged transport minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen to rethink her plans for fewer seats. 

Last September a wagon ploughed into a train at a level crossing after the brake apparently failed, killing four children. However, the cause of the accident has not yet been determined. 

Last December, research institute TNO said the wagons can only be allowed back into traffic after modifications have been carried out. In particular, there are problems with the braking system, the report said. 

Stints made their debuts on the Dutch roads in 2011 via legislation covering ‘special scooters’ – a new category of road transport introduced to cover Segways. 

MPs and ministers were keen to encourage new forms of transport and did not introduce extra safety measures so as not to dent innovation.

Electric wagons are unsafe, road ban remains in force

DutchNews, December 13, 2018

Two Stints in action. Photo: Stintum.nl

The electric wagons known as Stints which hundreds of daycare centres use to ferry children around are not safe enough to be on the public roads, the TNO research institute says in a new report. 

The institute was commissioned to look into stint safety by transport minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen following September’s fatal crash in which a wagon ploughed into a train, killing four children. 

Van Nieuwenhuizen immediately banned the wagons from the roads. 

The TNO report says the wagons can only be allowed back into traffic after modifications have been carried out. In particular, there are problems with the braking system, the report said. 

The minister told a news conference on Thursday she realises that the ban has caused problems for users but that ‘safety has priority’. She will hold talks with the child care sector about the difficulties they now face next week. 

2011 

Stints made their debuts on the Dutch roads in 2011 via legislation covering ‘special scooters’ – a new category of road transport introduced to cover Segways. MPs and ministers were keen to encourage new forms of transport and did not introduce extra safety measures so as not to dent innovation. 

Two road safety organisations checked the electric wagons in 2011 and both said they had doubts about their safety, broadcaster NOS said on Thursday afternoon. Nevertheless, both ministers and parliament decided to set their objections aside and press ahead with the introduction. 

MPs have described Thursday’s findings as shocking. ‘Public safety is paramount but that seems not to have been the case over the past few years,’ Socialist MP Cem Lacin told NOS. ‘An unsafe vehicle has bee used on the roads for years.’ 

Some 3,500 wagons are thought to have been in use prior to the ban. As well as daycare centres, they were used by several delivery companies, including PostNL.

Mobility scooters need urgent improvements, say road safety researchers

DutchNews, November 21, 2018

Senior woman at the seaside on mobility scooter

Mobility scooters used by thousands of elderly and immobile people in the Netherlands are not safe enough and need urgent action to meet tougher standards, according to road safety researchers. 

Dozens of people are killed every year in accidents involving mobility scooters. In total 38 mobility scooter users were killed in 2016 and 1,600 were taken to hospital after accidents. 

The road safety scientific research foundation (SWOV) has now researched 35 serious accidents involving the electric scooters.  It found that users who find themselves in dangerous situations tend to put pressure on the accelerator rather than let it go when they need to brake. 

The technology is similar to that used by the electric wagons used to transport children, known as the Stint. Stints have been banned from the Dutch roads pending safety checks after a fatal accident at a level crossing. 

The braking system is not the only problem with the scooters, the SWOV says. The scooters are not stable enough and are liable to tip on uneven roads or when they hit an obstacle.

It also recommends bike lanes are made wider, and without raised edges, to lessen the risk of accidents. 

Safe

Transport minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen said in a reaction to the report that all mobility scooter users should be able to trust that their vehicles are safe. 

She said she is now in talks with manufacturers about the SWOV recommendations. 

Television consumers show Kassa reported last month that one reason so many mobility scooter users are killed may be due to the braking system.

Related Article:

Court upholds electric wagon road ban, says safety must come first

Two Stints in action. Photo: Stintum.nl

Indonesia calls off the search for Lion Air crash victims

Yahoo – AFP, November 10, 2018

Rescuers have recovered body parts and pieces of the plane's engines,
wheels and seats from the sea (AFP Photo/Adek BERRY)

Indonesia on Saturday called off the search for passengers of a Lion Air plane, almost two weeks after the jetliner plunged into the Java Sea killing 189 people on board.

Some 196 bags containing body parts have been recovered from under the water with 79 victims identified and handed over to their families for burial.

"Since yesterday afternoon until today we have not found any more victims and therefore I declare the search and rescue operation is over," Muhammad Syaugi, head of the search and rescue agency, told reporters Saturday.

"We apologise to the public, especially the families of victims if during the operation we were not able to satisfy everybody," he added.

Rescuers have also retrieved parts of the plane's engines, wheels and seats from the sea. One diver died helping with search.

Lion Air has begun paying $102,058 compensation money for each passenger to the grieving families.

Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee has retrieved one of the black boxes -- the flight data recorder -- and is still hunting for the cockpit voice recorder, which recorded the last conversation between the pilot and co-pilot before the crash.

The doomed jet was a Boeing 737-Max 8, one of the world's newest and most advanced commercial passenger planes, and there is still no answer as to what caused the crash.

The government has ordered a check on all Boeing 737-Max 8 fleets and conducted a special audit on Lion Air management.

The transportation ministry has also removed several executives and technical staff from the airline to help with the accident investigation.

The Lion Air plane plunged into the Java Sea on October 29 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang city.

All 189 people on board were killed and the data from the flight recorder data has so far revealed the plane's air speed indicator had not been working properly on its last four journeys, including on the fatal flight.

Following the fatal crash, Boeing issued a special bulletin on how to deal with the erroneous Angle of Attack sensor alert in 737-8 and -9 airplanes.

Court upholds electric wagon road ban, says safety must come first

DutchNews, November 1, 2018

Two Stints in action. Photo: Stintum.nl

Judges in Utrecht have upheld the transport minister’s decision to ban the electric wagons known as Stints from the Dutch roads. 

The minister imposed the ban shortly after last month’s fatal accident in which four children died when a wagon ploughed into a train. It is thought that the brakes had failed. 

Thursday’s court case was brought by a daycare centre which claims the minister had not taken users of the Stint sufficiently into account in reaching her decision. Hundreds of daycare centres in the Netherlands have been forced to find alternative ways of moving children from place to place because of the ban. 

‘The claim that the minister acted in a panic is not correct,’ the court said. ‘The minister has explained that the decision was taken on the grounds of traffic safety and that this had priority over all other interests.’ 

Stint Urban Mobility, which makes the electric carts, has since gone bankrupt. 

The formal investigation into the vehicle safety is due at the end of the year.

Netherlands must prosecute dirty diesel exporters: report

DutchNews, February 7, 2017     

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The Netherlands and Belgium could prosecute dirty diesel exporters Trafigura and Vitol for contravening international agreements, environmental law experts have told Trouw. 

The diesel, which is blended with sulphur and benzene in the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp, is commonly sold to African countries by European oil companies who are taking advantages of the weak fuel standards in those countries, the experts say. 

Swiss-based commodity traders Trafigura and Vitol are responsible for 50% of dirty diesel exports. 

There are no EU rules banning such exports, but according to the Centre for International Environmental Law (Ciel), the practice contravenes the 2005 Basel Convention which says that the export of the fuel is illegal if countries themselves prohibit the import of dangerous waste. 

Ciel says this the case since most African countries have signed the Bamako agreement (1991) which declares such imports illegal. 

‘Therefore the export from Belgium and the Netherlands of fuel with a high sulphur content is in contravention of the Basel Convention,’ Trouw quotes the report as saying. 

Ciel’s lawyers say the export of dirty diesel is also in breach of human rights because the Netherlands and Belgium both signed up to a UN agreement which obliges them to respect people’s right to health. 

Sulphur 

Dirty diesel can contain up to two hundred times the amount of sulphur allowed in Europe. 

Milieudefensie spokesman Bram van Liere, said he expects that minister Lilianne Ploumen, who called the practice ‘scandalous’, will now prosecute the two oil companies ‘with the tools we have given her’. 

The Ciel report, which was commissioned by Swiss NGO Public Eye and Dutch environmental group Milieudefensie, was sent to parliament on Monday. 

Toyota, Nissan recall 6.5 mn cars over exploding airbag fears

Yahoo – AFP, 13 May 2015

An employee sews an airbag at Takata's crash-testing facility in Auburn

Hills, Michigan, in 2010 (AFP Photo/Bill Pugliano)

Japanese auto giants Toyota and Nissan on Wednesday said they were recalling 6.5 million vehicles globally in the latest chapter of an exploding airbag crisis linked to several deaths.

The world's biggest automaker said its recall of five million vehicles affected 35 models globally produced between 2003 and 2007, while Nissan said it was calling back 1.56 million vehicles also due to faulty airbags made by embattled supplier Takata.

Nissan Motors Chairman and 

CEO Carlos Ghosn speaks 

during the company's financial 

results press conference in 

Yokohama, on May 13,

 2015 (AFP Photo/Toshifumi

Kitamura)

"This will affect many of our markets, including Japan, Europe and North America," a Nissan spokesman told AFP, adding that the explosion risk was among a range of problems seen in the defective airbags.

"There might be many factors. (But) we have seen risks that the metal casing for inflators can malfunction."

Nissan's recall affects a range of models produced between 2004 and 2008.

Both firms said there were no reports of deaths or injuries linked to their latest recall.

The announcement comes after some 20 million vehicles produced by automakers also including General Motors and Honda were recalled because of the risk that their Takata-made airbags could improperly inflate and rupture, potentially firing deadly shrapnel at the occupants.

At least five deaths have been linked to the defect, with one in the United States initially investigated as a murder due to her grisly injuries.

Despite the ongoing problem, Nissan's results appeared to be relatively unaffected.

Just after the recall announcement, it said fiscal-year net profit soared a better-than-expected 17.6 percent to 457.6 billion yen ($4.2 billion), with the firm crediting a weak yen and new model rollouts.

Nissan projected an even stronger 485.0 billion yen profit this business year, including ongoing recall costs.

Last week, Toyota said its annual net profit rose to a record $18.1 billion. However, Honda's annual profit turned down 8.9 percent to $4.4 billion -- it is Takata's biggest air bag customer and accounts for a bulk of the recalls.

Air Force Lt. Stephanie Erdman, whose eye was injured by airbag shrapnel 

from her 2002 Honda Civic, is surrounded by pictures showing the accident as she

 testifies on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, on November 20, 2014 (AFP

Photo/Jim Watson)

Ongoing investigations

Toyota said the latest recall affects 1.35 million vehicles sold in Japan, 637,000 in the United States and 1.26 million in Europe.

"We have been conducting various ongoing investigations regarding Takata-produced airbag inflators," the firm said in an email.

"Among the parts collected from the Japanese market, certain types of airbag inflators were found to have a potential for moisture intrusion over time. As a result, they could be susceptible to abnormal deployment in a crash."

Takata has said the defect surfaces mainly in humid, hotter regions and resisted US authorities' call for a national recall of cars with its airbags.

The firm had an open disagreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which accused Takata of not helping with its investigation into the defects.

Tokyo-based Takata, one of the world's biggest air-bag companies, is a key supplier to major automakers with dozens of plants and offices in 20 countries, including the United States, China and Mexico.

Japanese auto parts maker Takata's child car seats at a showroom in

Tokyo on May 8, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

Facing lawsuits and regulatory probes, Takata recently acknowledged that the crisis has taken a toll on its earnings, but added that it expects to eke out a small profit this year.

Despite the global crisis, Takata's top executives have largely stayed out of the public eye and remain tightlipped about the situation.

The announcements were made shortly before Tokyo markets closed. Toyota shares fell 1.06 percent to 8,196.0 yen while Nissan lost 0.95 percent to close at 1,246.5 yen.

Korean Air heiress jailed in 'nut rage' case

Yahoo – AFP, Jung Ha-Won, 12 Feb 2015

Cameramen take images of a prison bus carrying Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-Ah

as she arrives at a court for her trial in Seoul on February 12, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Jung Yeon-Je)

The daughter of Korean Air's chairman was jailed for one year Thursday over a now notorious "nut rage" incident that triggered an uproar over the behaviour of South Korea's elite business families.

The district court in Seoul convicted Cho Hyun-Ah of violating aviation safety law by forcing a taxiing New York-Seoul KAL flight to return to its departure gate on December 5.

Cho, who was the airline's executive vice president at the time, had insisted on expelling the chief purser from the plane after taking exception to being served macadamia nuts in a bag, rather than a bowl.

Cho Hyun-Ah, the daughter of Korean Air's

 chief executive, has been found guilty of 

violating aviation safety law in a now

notorious on-board "nut rage" incident

(AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)

The 40-year-old had treated the flight "as if it was her own private plane", Justice Oh Sung-Woo said, adding that the case had become the object of international ridicule and "damaged the dignity" of the country.

"It is doubtful that the way the nuts were served was so wrong," Oh added.

Cho was also convicted of assault on the cabin crew.

The chief steward, Park Chang-Jin, had testified that Cho had made him kneel and beg for forgiveness while jabbing him with a service manual.

Prosecutors in the trial had asked for a three-year sentence, but Oh said he had taken into account that no lives had been jeopardised in the incident, as well as the fact that Cho had two young children and that her personal and professional reputation had been shattered.

Dismissing defence arguments to the contrary, the court ruled that an aircraft should be deemed "in flight" from the moment it begins to move and that Cho was therefore guilty of illegally altering the course of a plane.

Spoilt and arrogant

She was acquitted of obstruction of justice charges related to allegations that she had pressured KAL staff to lie about the incident.

Another defendant, also a KAL executive was convicted of forcing the flight crew to give false testimony and was jailed for eight months.

Although Cho had submitted letters to the court expressing repentance for her behaviour, Oh questioned whether she was truly remorseful.

Cho, who has been in custody since her arrest on December 30 and attended the court in a green prison outfit, stood silently throughout the ruling, her head bowed.

The case triggered a huge public backlash.

Cho was seen as emblematic of a generation of spoilt and arrogant offspring of owners of the giant family-run conglomerates, or "chaebols," that dominate the South Korean economy.

Like Cho, many are given senior positions in the family business, sometimes after a token period "learning the trade".

In the past, chaebol owners have appeared to be above the law. Those convicted of gross fraud have either received lenient sentences or been granted pardons after just a short time in jail.

Cho resigned from all her posts and publicly apologised for her behaviour, which her father and KAL chairman Cho Yang-Ho also criticised as a "foolish act".

South Korea's Korean Air plane, center, sits on the tarmac at 

Gimpo airport in Seoul on Dec. 9, 2014. (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-je)

Related Articles:

Korean Air Heiress Charged Over ‘Nut Rage’ Case

Korean Air heiress arrested for 'nut rage'

South Korean heiress apologizes to flight attendants for 'nut rage'

Singapore looks to Taipei as unlikely model for cleanliness

Want China Times, CNA 2015-01-31

A worker cleans Taipei Main Station, July 24, 2009. (Photo/Chen Chih-yuan)

Singapore is well known for its strict rules intended to keep its streets clean, so it may come as a surprise that activists in the city-state are looking to Taipei as an example of how to maintain a trash-free city.

But Liak Teng Lit, chairman of Singapore's non-governmental Public Hygiene Council, told the Straits Times that his country has "let things deteriorate until we now have a crisis of cleanliness," a reference to the massive amount of trash left strewn about last weekend after a music festival.

In contrast, Liak said that on a recent trip to Taiwan, he and other council members learned that "cleaning is a part of education," adding that it "teaches the value of labor and that it is not shameful to sweat."

He praised Taipei for keeping its streets clean with only 5,000 professional cleaners looking after a city of almost 3 million people, whereas Singapore has a small army of 70,000 cleaners for its population of 5 million.

The praise echoes remarks made by William Wan, co-founder of the Singapore Kindness Movement that works with Liak's organization, who said earlier in the month that trash left after New Year's celebrations showed that Singapore needs to transform from a "cleaned city" to a "clean city."

Revelers who left a "meadow of trash" at the Gardens by the Bay this past weekend told the Straits Times they littered because they saw other people doing it and assumed somebody would come by to collect it.

On Wednesday, Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien Loong took to Facebook to draw attention to the sad scene left after the Laneway music festival.

"All of us can play a part in picking up our own litter, educating our children and grandchildren, and reminding others to do the right thing," the prime minister wrote.

Dozens killed as bus collides with oil tanker in Pakistan

At least 57 people, including women and children, have been killed after a bus crashed into an oil tanker in southern Pakistan. The accident led to a fiery blaze, making rescue attempts difficult.

Deutsche Welle, 11 Jan 2015

The overloaded bus was on its way to Shikarpur from Pakistan's commercial capital, Karachi. Senior police officer Rao Muhammad Anwaar said the bus "hit the oil tanker which, according to initial reports, was coming from the wrong direction."

The accident led to a fierce blaze, which was put out by the fire brigade, but not until both the bus and the tanker were completely consumed, Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune reported. Rescue workers had to cut through heavy machinery to reach the victims, it said.

A few passengers escaped by jumping out of the windows.

As many as 57 people are reported to have died in fiery crash between bus and oil tanker near Karachi, #Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/txIwP4NzoP
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 11, 2015

"We have received more than 57 dead bodies but the death toll may rise as most of them are completely burnt and stuck to each other," Semi Jamali, a doctor at Karachi's Jinnah hospital, told news agency Agence France Presse.

Bodies that were badly burnt would have to be identified using DNA tests, Jamali added.

The accident was the second collision within a span of three months. In November, 57 people including women and children were killed when a bus crashed into a goods truck loaded with coal.

Pakistan has a record number of fatal travel accidents, owing mainly to bad roads and reckless driving.

mg/cmk (AFP, AP)

AirAsia, Indonesia and Effective Crisis Management

Jakarta Globe, Bloomberg, Dec 31, 2014

President Joko Widodo on board a Hercules plane taking part in the
search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, on Tuesday.(Antara Photo/Andika Wahyu)

In his run for president this year, Joko Widodo pledged to bring greater openness and accountability to Indonesia. As his administration faces its first international crisis, the mysterious crash of an AirAsia jet, he’s proving to be a man of his word.

You can tell a lot about a nation from its response to great tragedy, whether it’s Japan’s 2011 Fukushima crisis, Malaysia’s lost Boeing 777 in March or South Korea’s deadly ferry accident in April. So far, Joko has performed admirably.

Since news broke on Sunday that an Airbus A320 flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore vanished with 162 people on board, Joko has coordinated search-and-rescue efforts, demanded a review of air safety regulations and called on weather agencies to provide timelier information. His government is giving steady updates, and Joko has sought help from Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Australia and, remarkably, China and the US in finding Flight QZ8501.

In contrast, last spring, Malaysia was widely criticized for the secrecy and paranoia that surrounded its search for a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared with 239 people aboard. Welcoming US and Chinese military ships into Indonesia’s orbit speaks to Joko’s confidence as a leader.

Let’s hope this is a harbinger of future competence. Joko is the fifth president since dictator Suharto was ousted in 1998 but the first true political outsider to run Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Because he’s not a member of a dynastic family or the military, he isn’t beholden to vested interests looking to siphon the benefits of Indonesia’s 5 percent growth. That gives him latitude to dismantle the kleptocracy that Suharto built during his 32-year reign and raise Indonesia’s competitiveness.

As governor of Jakarta, starting in 2012, Joko brought a surprising level of transparency. He moved budget procurement and tax collection processes online. He’s now working to make national government services electronic to reduce opportunities for graft and improve efficiency. Opening up the process of granting licenses for developing infrastructure, mines and plantations alone would do much to clean up the nation’s political and business climate.

Indonesia’s aviation industry also has long cried out for greater oversight. Its carriers, air traffic controllers and the skies around the archipelago of 250 million people are notorious for their regulatory laxity. As recently as 2009, state carrier Garuda was banned from European Union airspace. That laxity is a product of decades of cronyism and institutional neglect.

While Joko’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made inroads against graft, Indonesia’s still ranks behind Djibouti and Argentina and a sober 22 rungs below India in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index. The daylight Joko wants to shine on the government is needed to attract more foreign investment and ensure that scarce revenues are spent on education, health care and poverty programs.

The openness and assertiveness with which Joko has responded to Flight QZ8501 gives me reason to hope that Indonesia will be prepared for whatever comes its way.

William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist based in Tokyo and writes on economics, markets and politics throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

President Joko Widodo, center, talks to the head of Indonesia’s national search
 and rescue agency, Soelistyo, left, and Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating
 Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, right, shortly before a news conference
 about missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in Jakarta, on Dec. 29, 2014.
 (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

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