5,000 civil servants punished for 'errors'

JAKARTA (JP): Over 5,000 civil servants have been punished over the past two years for breaching rules, Minister for Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi said yesterday.

In a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission II for home affairs, Silalahi said between April 1994 and March 1996, his office received reports on 3,713 such cases.

Silalahi said most of the cases fell into the category of indiscipline, of which there were 2,950 cases, followed by 362 reports of embezzlement of state money, 330 cases of abuse of power, and 71 extortion cases.

He said of the 5,081 civil servants found guilty of breaching the rules, 5,043, or 99.25 percent, got administrative punishment and the remaining 38 were brought to court.

Silalahi did not specify the administrative action taken against the erratic civil servants, but it generally refers to being transferred to another post or postponement of promotion.

The minister also defended the government's policy of freezing the growth of the civil service.

"The policy aims at saving the state budget and making it possible to improve civil servants' welfare," Silalahi said.

The zero growth policy is also intended to improve the distribution of the four million-strong civil servants, Silalahi said.

Under the policy, the civil service accepts new employees only to replace those who retire or die. The redistribution of civil servants is attributed to priority of development, Silalahi said.

Silalahi said the government plans to improve the quality of its employees by intensifying requirements for prospective bureaucrats.

The civil service zero growth policy is part of the government's efforts to trim the bureaucracy. (fai/pan)