Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – National airline Garuda Indonesia has been criticized for delaying two flights over the last few days to accommodate a senior politician and one of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's sons.

Garuda reportedly delayed one of its flights from Jakarta to the Central Java town of Surakarta for 20 minutes on Saturday to wait for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's youngest son, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, or better known as Ibas, to board the plane.

A passenger told local news portal detik.com that according to the schedule the plane should have taken off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 9:30 a.m.

The pilot said the plane was still waiting for a number of passengers. After about 20 minutes, Ibas, now a lawmaker and secretary-general for Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, and several armed guards, boarded the aircraft.

"We finally took off at 9:50 a.m. – that's quite a delay. We all complained, but, well, what can we do about it?" the passenger said.

On Sunday, House of Representatives deputy speaker Taufik Kurniawan also reportedly caused a three-minute delay to a Garuda flight from Semarang in Central Java to Jakarta.

Taufik, who is from the National Mandate Party, a government coalition party, was coming from a party in Semarang to attend a fast-breaking dinner hosted by President Yu-dhoyono at his private residence in Cikeas, south of Jakarta.

Garuda spokesman Pudjobroto told detik.com that Taufik had asked Garuda to wait.

"GA 239 should have taken off at 12:50 p.m., and the check-in counter had been closed 30 minutes earlier. Pak Taufik asked us to wait... but as he could only arrive at 1 p.m., the plane had already departed," he said.

Pudjobroto added that the aircraft took off at 12.53 p.m. and that a flight delayed by three minutes should be considered "on time". However, Pudjobroto could not be reached for comment about the 20-minute delay to Ibas's Garuda flight.

Taufik denied he had asked Garuda to delay the flight for him, saying that he when he had made the phone call he had merely asked his staff already at the Surakarta's Adi-sumarmo airport whether the flight was on schedule.

"I only asked that question. If it was indeed on time, that would have been no problem for me. But, if there had been a delay, I just wanted to inform them that I was already near," he said as quoted by Antara.

Democratic Party senior politician Ahmad Mubarok said Garuda, not Ibas, was to blame for the delay.

Taufik was also accused of asking Garuda to ask the aircraft to return for him, which he denied.

"As a former head of [House of Representatives'] Commission V overseeing transportation and former chairman of the House's special committee on the flight bill, I understand clearly about flight regulations. I understand clearly that nobody can ask a plane to return from the runway, especially if only to appease one person's request. That is completely not true," he added.

Democratic Party senior politician Ahmad Mubarok also said Iblas was not to blame.

"Don't heap the criticism on Ibas, but on Garuda. It is the one treating people improperly. Ibas neither told them nor asked them [to delay the flight for him]. That is a mental weakness of Indonesians – the way we tend to treat our superiors," Ahmad said.

"He is not the type of person who uses power like that. Besides, it's not like Garuda is not often late without having to wait like that," he added.