A token of care

Despite the heavy burden of trying to resuscitate the country's economy, the government has decided to raise the salaries of its employees, the police and the military by 30 percent in the new state budget.

Perhaps the figure seems to have little significance in this time of crisis, but the step should be understood as a sign that the new government with its limited powers has not left civil servants and military and police members out in the cold.

Economists or more educated people in society might view the new budget from a different point of view, but for the public in general the standard measure of any budget has always been the welfare of civil servants. For the last five decades, this group of people has come to symbolize Indonesia's forgotten citizens and its inadequacies. Their conditions were not improved by the fact that whenever there was a wage increase it was automatically preceded by increases in the prices of basic commodities -- a symptom observable in traditional markets throughout the archipelago.

With this year's salary increases the government expects to help raise the purchasing power of the estimated 4.5 million civil servants, even though fuel prices will be raised by an average of 12 percent and the electricity rates by 29 percent.

At present, the basic salary of an unmarried lowest-rung civil servant amounts to Rp 141,800 (US$19.16) a month.

The new increases might help ease the pain in the hearts of civil servants and military and policemen and women. Last year, the government of president B. J. Habibie did not raise their salaries after the country was ravaged by 70 percent inflation.

However, this year, appreciation of the government's move by some people might be overshadowed by the recent announcement of the increase in the basic salaries of President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri by 78 percent and 120 percent respectively. And these raises will logically be followed by increases in the salaries of high-ranking government officials, which is quite acceptable because in the past they were allowed to enjoy many fringe benefits in connection with their positions, such the chairmanship of certain councils or government bodies. But financially speaking, the officials did not have much to be proud of because their salaries were much smaller than those of the directors of state banks for example.

The government has also raised the special allowances of paramedics, teachers and policemen and women by an additional 100 percent. Policemen and women deserve special attention because their tasks are much greater in this era of civilian rule. The poor welfare of members of the police force has concerned the public for decades, not least as it has been seen as the cause of their daily petty corrupt practices on the streets. This behavior is something their chiefs have tacitly understood, due to the poor wages they receive in exchange for working hard under the scorching sun amid exhaust fumes from luxury cars, without even having enough rupiah to buy the cheapest drink.

Last but not least, the government should be under no illusions that salary increases alone will be able to reduce the rampant corruption in the bureaucracy; experience has taught this nation that breaches of public trust by bureaucrats are not much to do with the size of their wage packets but mainly with their mentality. It is widely recognized that since president Soeharto assumed power three decades ago there has been a widespread decline in standards of morality at every level of the country's administration.

Even with effective antigraft laws in place, the nation will need a long time to combat ugly illicit business practices, never mind in their absence today.