Complaints on govt services increase<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said yesterday that public
\ncomplaints about government services were rising faster than
\nthose about the private sector.<\/p>\n
While opening a three-day seminar on bureaucratic reform at
\nthe State Palace, the President said that low wages were partly
\nto blame for the inefficient and ineffective bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
But Soeharto said it was unfair to compare the public sector
\nwith the private sector without considering the different income
\nlevels of staff.<\/p>\n
\"Civil servants are paid relatively less than workers in
\nprivate companies,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Soeharto said the government's limited budget was preventing
\nit drastically improving bureaucrats' incomes.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has six million civil servants, 3.5 million of them
\nwork for the bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
Last April, the government raised the monthly salaries of
\nupper-echelon civil servants by up to 34.4 percent and lower
\ngrade civil servants by up to 73 percent.<\/p>\n
\"It's difficult to solve these problems (low wages), as people
\nwho are becoming more prosperous are demanding better services
\nfrom civil servants whose living conditions are poorer than
\ntheirs,\" Soeharto said.<\/p>\n
He said that whatever challenges were facing it, the
\nbureaucracy should be able to accommodate growing public demands
\nor it would hinder development.<\/p>\n
\"The bureaucracy plays a pivotal role as the motor of
\ndevelopment. It can encourage public ideas and creativity to grow
\nby simplifying procedures and helping the public develop,\"
\nSoeharto said.<\/p>\n
He said reforms were needed to enable the bureaucracy to
\npromote public participation in development programs.<\/p>\n
\"But we do not need to have a massive restructuring because
\nradical changes are not always fruitful,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The seminar is being held by the Ministry of Administrative
\nReforms, the National Institute of Administration, the National
\nArchives Agency and the Institute of State Personnel
\nAdministration.<\/p>\n
Results of the seminar will be submitted to the People's
\nConsultative Assembly which will hold its general session next
\nMarch.<\/p>\n
The first day of the seminar saw Loekman Soetrisno of Gadjah
\nMada University criticize the bureaucracy for its political links
\nwith Golkar.<\/p>\n
\"The political allegiance has caused the bureaucracy to suffer
\nfrom insecurity of redundancy and to fall prey to mass violence,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Some government offices were attacked in the riots during the
\nMay election campaign. The riots have forced government officials
\nin some provinces to change the number plates on their official
\ncars.<\/p>\n
Loekman said that the bureaucracy had not yet cured its most
\nchronic diseases of corruption and collusion because of its
\nmembers' economic insecurity. He said many officials committed
\nviolations, such as corruption, to ensure that they could live
\ncomfortable in retirement.<\/p>\n
He suggested that the bureaucracy separate itself from Golkar
\nand keep away from its past mission of helping the dominant party
\nwin general elections.<\/p>\n
\"For the sake of our successful development, we must in future
\nset up a red and white (nationalist) bureaucracy, rather than
\nyellow, green or red ones,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Red and white, the colors of the Indonesian flag, have
\ncommonly been used to identify nationalism. (06\/amd)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/complaints-on-govt-services-increase-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}