BI chief to end up as highest paid official<\/p>\n
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Bank Indonesia (BI) board of governors will become the
\nhighest paid state officials in the country, with its top chief
\nexpecting to bring home at least Rp 141.32 million (US$14,420)
\nper month.<\/p>\n
BI Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah said on Tuesday the board
\nshared tasks with the state and the House of Representatives to
\napply an efficient budget, but added that major changes in the
\npay packages would disrupt the central bank's overall
\nremuneration system.<\/p>\n
To make the pay package somewhat more palatable for the
\npublic, he said, BI would instead cut several additional
\nallowances, which are part of the central bank's 2006 budget
\nproposal. Those would have pushed the governors' average monthly
\nsalary to Rp 224 million.<\/p>\n
The package is comprised of basic salary, a contingency
\nallowance, a performance allowance and unspecified allowances.<\/p>\n
\"My proposal is that we take off the two leave allowances, the
\nthree incentives and we get only one holiday bonus,\" Burhanuddin
\nstated during a hearing with House Commission XI on finance.<\/p>\n
The senior deputy governor is to get Rp 118.26 million per
\nmonth, while the six deputy governors will receive Rp 107.28
\nmillion each per month.<\/p>\n
The amounts will make the BI governors the highest paid state
\nofficials.<\/p>\n
Critics, including the President and the Vice President, have
\nsaid that the existing remuneration system for state officials
\nhad to be revised in order to comply with the merit system and
\nthe principles of fairness.<\/p>\n
A new law on remuneration will likely be enacted soon, with
\nthe President earning the most. As of now, the President's
\nmonthly salary is Rp 62.7 million, the Vice President's is Rp
\n42.2 million and ministers take home Rp 18.6 million each.<\/p>\n
This is the first time for the central bank to consult with
\nand seek such approval from the House on its remuneration scale
\nas a consequence of Law No. 3\/2004 on Bank Indonesia.<\/p>\n
No data was made available on how much BI governors had been
\npaid each month. Before the enactment of the law, the BI
\ngovernors drew up their own salary system.<\/p>\n
While it is different than the formulation recommended by
\nCommission XI, the BI's new proposal will likely be the one that
\nis applied.<\/p>\n
BI's new proposal is 31.6 percent lower than the initial one,
\nand greater than the 29.8-percent cut recommended by the House
\nCommission.<\/p>\n
In its recommendation, the Commission altered several figures
\nin allowances and deleted leave allowances. It also proposed that
\nthe monthly performance allowance be optional based on a review
\nby the House.<\/p>\n
But it turned out that Commission members had mistook it as a
\nperformance-based reward, while BI said it was substantially a
\nsort of functional allowance that comes with their position.<\/p>\n
The Commission also warned BI chiefs to be more selective
\nabout foreign trips in 2006, which has reportedly been proposed
\nto cost Rp 1.4 billion for each, but without severely affecting
\nBI's work at the international level.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the central bank executives often take along
\nrelatives on such trips and pay for their expenses using state
\nfunds, legislators revealed.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bi-chief-to-end-up-as-highest-paid-official-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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