Government has no reason to delay back pay: Andi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The delayed disbursement of additional back pay
\nderived from salary hikes of civil servants over the last six
\nmonths shows the central government's mismanagement of regional
\nautonomy, an observer said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Expert on regional autonomy Andi Mallarangeng lamented the
\ncentral government's argument that the delay was the consequence
\nof the transition within the cabinet where the caretaker
\nministers refused to authorize the funds' distribution.<\/p>\n
\"That's nonsense. Caretaker ministers can still carry out
\nroutine tasks, including paying the civil servants' salaries,\" he
\ntold The Jakarta Post by phone, adding that such a delay would
\naffect services to the public.<\/p>\n
The increase in civil servants' salaries, which reached
\nbetween 14 percent and 30 percent, was announced in April, after
\nthe provincial legislative councils approved the local
\nadministration's budget proposals.<\/p>\n
The government had promised to pay all the back pay in July,
\nbut failed to act on it.<\/p>\n
Andi pointed out that the amount of the budget allocation by
\nthe central government to local administrations was too small and
\nnot sufficient to pay the large number of civil servants posted
\nby the central government there.<\/p>\n
Andi, who briefly served as deputy at the now defunct office
\nof the state ministry of administrative reform, said that
\nalthough the central government had provided contingency funds to
\ncover the shortfall in the local administrations' budget, it
\nshould not make the civil servants wait too long to receive their
\nsalaries.<\/p>\n
\"This only shows the government is managing regional autonomy
\nhalf-heartedly. Jakarta should allow provincial administrations
\nto enjoy part of their own tax income, so they can have their own
\nreserve should a delay takes place,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Under the new regional autonomy system, each administration is
\nobliged to employ a large number of civil servants, who used to
\nserve under the central government. Their salaries, however, have
\nto be borne by the local administrations.<\/p>\n
Due to the fund shortages, the local administrations have been
\nforced to seek other resources, including the use of their
\nreserve funds, or to delay the monthly salary payment and have
\nbeen unable to give the promised back pay.<\/p>\n
The Bandung mayoralty, for example has decided to hold the
\ndisbursement of the back pay of some 23,000 civil servants until
\nnext year due to the shortage of about Rp 43 billion.<\/p>\n
The mayoralty's head of development division, Askary, said the
\nadministration had received an initial budget of Rp 185 billion
\nfor the civil servants' salaries.<\/p>\n
\"Jakarta had promised to disburse another Rp 21.5 billion from
\nits contingency funds in July,\" he said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, about 18,000 civil servants, including 7,000
\nassigned by the central government at the West Java provincial
\nadministration, had received all their back pay from January to
\nJune last month.<\/p>\n
Most of the money was taken from the administration's reserve
\nfunds.<\/p>\n
In Surabaya, the local administration decided to disburse the
\nlong-awaited back pay for its 19,000 civil servants this month.<\/p>\n
\"We paid them using the budget for development,\" the
\nmayoralty's secretary M. Jasin said.<\/p>\n
The Medan, North Sumatra, mayoralty's spokesman Ismunandar
\ntold the Post that the local administration had asked Jakarta to
\nadd some Rp 71.6 billion to enable it to pay all the back pay of
\nits 17,000 civil servants.<\/p>\n
North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin admitted that both the
\nprovince's and mayoralty's budget could not be used to pay the
\ncivil servants' salary.<\/p>\n
\"We understand we have to give them what is rightfully due to
\nthem. We're trying to get some additional funds from the central
\ngovernment,\" he said.<\/p>\n
South Sulawesi provincial administration decided to delay the
\nback pay for its 17,000 civil servants because it still lacked
\nanother Rp 140 billion.<\/p>\n
Spokesman Hidayat said that the civil servants' salary had
\nbeen raised by an average of 30 percent.<\/p>\n
\"We have given their full pay today, but it's not from the
\ncentral government's general budget allocation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The East Nusa Tenggara administration had also been forced to
\nspend part of its reserve funds to pay the back pay for its
\n1,500 civil servants. One third of them were formerly posted in
\nthe country's former province East Timor.<\/p>\n
\"And now, we don't know how to pay them next month,\" head of
\nthe finance bureau Wellem Padja remarked.<\/p>\n
Head of Jayapura mayoralty's budget division Simon Patabang
\nsaid the existing funds could only cover the monthly salaries of
\n5,000 civil servants, but it was not enough to reimburse their
\nback pay.<\/p>\n
\"We need another Rp 9 billion, but we have been asked to wait
\nby the central government,\" he said. (team)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-has-no-reason-to-delay-back-pay-andi-1447893297",
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