300 allowed to sit civil service test

JAKARTA (JP): Three hundred civil servant applicants, who did not receive a notification letter from the municipality, were allowed to join yesterday's test despite earlier plans to fail them.

The applicants did not receive a test identification number -- and were considered ineligible for the test -- due to a postal service delay, an official said.

"The city is trying to be fair to all prospective applicants. Therefore, we allowed the 300 applicants to take the test in separate groups and we'll determine their test numbers later," Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi said yesterday.

The decision was made in response to complaints by city councilors and applicants.

Councilor Hibiyah Rochim from Commission A for administrative affairs said yesterday that it was not the applicants' fault that the test notification letters sent by post did not arrive between Oct. 21 and 27.

She urged the municipality to find a better method of selection.

"Don't play with people's faith. These applicants are really looking forward to the opportunity to become a civil servant," she said.

Councilor Hotma Tambunan, the head of Commission A, shared Hibiyah's views.

"Why did the officials use the postal service when they know that it is risky? They have to find another way to make the announcement, such as through the newspapers," he said.

This year, some 25,000 people applied for jobs as civil servants. After administrative selections, the city invited 16,000 applicants to take yesterday's test at Senayan Indoor Stadium to determine the successful candidates for 1,265 positions.

Some of the 300 applicants, who did not receive a notification letter, went to the application committee's office on Jl. Rasuna Said, Central Jakarta, on Monday to express their dissatisfaction, Ma'mun Amin, the head of Jakarta Officials Bureau said yesterday.

The angry applicants reportedly tore up application documents and yelled at officials when they were not supplied with test numbers.

In a related development yesterday, a civil servants test in Bogor, West Java, was disrupted by claims of bribery.

Some of the applicants claimed that officials had asked them to pay between Rp 2.5 million (US$694) and Rp 5 million if they wanted to pass the test.

"There is potential for bribery in this case because out of the 500 applicants in Bogor, only 35 of them will be accepted," a Bogor city official, who asked for anonymity, said.

Anas J. Rasmana, a city spokesman, denied the accusations.

"It is not true that there was bribery here," he said. "But I'll check with my subordinates to make sure." (07/24)