City 'can't employ all defunct ministry staff'

JAKARTA (JP): Due to limited space and finances, the city administration will not absorb all the employees of the Jakarta offices of downgraded ministries ahead of the implementation of regional autonomy next year, Governor Sutiyoso said on Friday.

"It's such a heavy task and we cannot accommodate all the employees in the city administration," he said on the sidelines of an inauguration ceremony of seven high-ranking officials at City Hall.

"Taking in a large number of employees is a difficult thing to do and will strain the city budget," he said.

The governor inaugurated Abdul Chair as head of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs; Kasmiyati as head of the Jakarta office of the National Family Planning Board and Koes Saparjadi as head of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations.

Also installed were Marihot Siahaan as head of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade; Dadang Ruskandar as head of the City Park Agency; Djumhana Tjakrawiralaksana as head of the City Development Monitoring Agency and Eddy Sofyan Diat as head of the Jakarta Fair Foundation.

Last month, Sutiyoso welcomed 1,477 employees from the Jakarta offices of the downgraded ministry of tourism, arts and culture; ministry of transmigration and forest wanderers settlement; ministry of public works; and ministry of cooperatives, small and medium enterprises.

Earlier in March, the administration received the first batch of 1,209 transferred employees from the dissolved ministry of social affairs and ministry of information.

There were a total of 25 Jakarta offices of various ministries in the capital. The dismissal excluded the offices of the ministries that handle economic and monetary affairs, as well as security and defense.

The ongoing dismissal and degradation of the ministries will continue until the end of the 2000 fiscal year, which will be in December.

With the dismissal plan, some 120,000 employees of the defunct and downgraded ministries will become unemployed. The city administration is expected to accommodate them at the Jakarta offices of the ministries and also at its various agencies.

Merger

Sutiyoso said the administration was now planning to downsize its organizational structure by merging several city agencies, which have similar tasks, into one new agency.

"Absorbing the former employees of the defunct and downgraded ministries goes against our plan to downsize our organizational structure. Therefore, the central government will also have to absorb them," he said.

He said, however, that the administration would gradually employ some jobless employees in the administration.

"We will have problems with their (new employees) ranks and positions, including those of existing city officials," he said.

Feeling an obligation to accommodate the employees, Sutiyoso said the administration would not recruit new employees for an unspecified period of time.

Separately, city administration spokesman Muhayat said the plan to dismiss regional offices of the central government's ministries was in line with the implementation of regional autonomy in 2001.

"As for the consequences, the city administration will have to absorb the state employees, including some 30,000 teachers from elementary and high schools in the city," he said on Friday. (lup)