The employees, including pilots in their airline uniforms, picketed Garuda's headquarters in central Jakarta, calling for a total eradication of corruption and nepotism in management. ``We are professionals and we are not on strike, but what we demand is professional management,'' a Garuda Pilot said. The protestors demanded an end to the practice of granting key airline contracts to firms owned or controlled by relatives and friends of former president Suharto, who stepped down on May 21.

First officer Nanang Ridho cited the appointment of the company's president Soepandi as a prime example of nepotism, and said he must be dumped.

``Until now, this position has just been `dropped' from Cendana and this practice must stop,'' Ridho said, referring to Suharto's residence onJakarta's Cendana street. Another employee cited P T Angkasa Buana Wisesa, a company controlled by Suharto's grandson Ari Sigit, which was given the lucrative deal of handling the airline's cargo management.

The employee charged that the contract was earned not on merit but through nepotism. He quoted sources as saying that the contract earned the firm some seven billion rupiah (about 608,000 dollars) each month. Garuda was also forced to entrust its airline ground handling affairs to another Suharto-linked firm, P T Gapura, and was forced to sell off P T Aerowisata, its hotel management subsidiary, to Suharto's youngest son's Hutomo ``Tommy'' Mandala Putra, the protestors said.

The employees, who called themselves the ``True Garuda Indonesia Employee Reform Team,'' also demanded that the airline sack its executive board, correct the company's mismanagement and guarantee transparent management of its assets in the future. Ridho warned that should nothing happen by the end of the month ``we will takestronger action.'' State firms minister Tanri Abeng warned on Monday that Garuda Indonesia's operations were threatened by debt estimated at 200 million dollars, half of which was already overdue.