A History of Indonesia's Official Cars From Dodge Darts to Toyota Crowns

JAKARTA LIFE'S STYLE

Controversy has been brewing over the luxurious Toyota Crown cars given to ministers and other state officials and history shows that the cars are among the most expensive handed over to officials since Indonesia’s independence.

According to TV One, in the 1960’s, President Sukarno gave his ministers a Dodge Dart car. The car was used from the 1960s to 1976.

In 1978, Indonesia’s second president Suharto replaced the Dodge Dart with Swedish-made car Volvo. During the Suharto reign, which spanned 32 years, the ministers continued to use different series of Volvo cars, from Volvo 264 to Volvo 960. The car was known as the “state car” because only high-ranked state officials used it.

After Suharto resigned, three presidents after him — BJ Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri — continued the Volvo tradition.

Indonesia’s sixth president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took office in 2004 and gave a Toyota Camry V6 to the ministers in his first cabinet. The Camry cars were only used for five years.

For his second cabinet Yudhoyono gave ministers and state officials a Toyota Crown Royal Saloon which cost Rp 1.3 billion ($139,000) a piece.

A number of officials such as deputy chairman of the Regional Representative Council La Ode Ida and anticorruption officials declined the cars and returned them to the government.

“It’s too expensive and too luxurious,” said Bibit Samad Rianto, deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, last week.(thejakartaglobe)