Indonesian officials like to try to capitalize on disasters, hoping to get more popular out of the misery of people they are supposed to serve. The favorite tactic is to demonstrate their anger in front of the media to those who are supposedly the culprits. They want to shift blame to other parties while showing to the public that they're acting tough and doing their jobs properly.

This has been blatantly displayed in the aftermath of the crash of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 on Dec. 28. Rather than focusing on the recovering efforts and waiting for the results of the investigation into the accident by the National Committee on Transportation Safety (KNKT), many officials have made irresponsible comments and attempted to avoid being blamed for the accident.

The fact is that the management of the Indonesian aviation system has for years been a dangerous life-threatening mess and urgently needs a total overhaul – from corrupt officials to obsolete technology and equipment. If the AirAsia flight had not crashed, we would not have known about all the problems.

Like a time bomb, a deadly accident is bound to happen within such a messy system. In this digital era, why can't an aviation system – a technologically advanced sector – employ an integrated information system that includes a real-time weather report?

It's crazy to think that the pilot used outdated weather information 10 hours or even a day late, even as the weather changes constantly, especially with climate change becoming very real.

The strangest of all: how can – as Indonesian authorities claim – AirAsia have flown on a Sunday if it had no permit to do so? It has taken the deaths of 162 people to remind Indonesia to quit this nonsense for the sake of popularity and start overhauling our aviation system.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/editorial-officials-shouldnt-weather-storm/