City civil servants to pick their own uniform tailors

City civil servants to pick their own uniform tailors

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration has decided to return to its old policy
of handing out material and cash to civil servants to sew their
own uniforms following mistakes in the size and color of the
uniforms it bought last year.

"We have decided to return to our previous policy of providing
money for procuring tailors," City Assets Office head Khairul
Mahadi said on Wednesday.

Until last year, the city handed out clothing material and
cash worth Rp 50,000 to officers to sew a uniform to fit.

In 2004, however, the administration decided to hand out pre-
made uniforms, distributing two sets of uniforms to 43,500 of
91,020 civil servants.

Many of the uniform sets, however, were returned Khairul's
office as they were either too small or too big. All in all,
2,200 caps and 300 trousers and shirts were returned for
alterations.

Khairul blamed those mistakes on inaccuracies during the
measuring process.

He said his office had carried out an evaluation of the
procurement process and discovered that up to 3.5 percent of the
uniform sets, or at least 3,045, did not fit or were the wrong
color.

"We asked unit heads in the administration to collect data on
sizes of their staff before the procurement. Unfortunately, the
fittings did not work well," he said.

According to him, his office had filed a claim to producer PT
Sritex in Surakarta about the mistakes, but it had yet to deliver
the new suits.

Meanwhile, several government officials said Rp 50,000 was too
little to cover the cost of sewing a uniform set.

"The cheapest price to sew a uniform set is around Rp 85,000.
Most tailors ask for higher fees -- between Rp 100,000 and Rp
125,000 a suit -- forcing us to make up the deficit from our own
pockets," Abdul said.

Other officers, however, welcomed the administration's
decision to return to the old policy.

"We can ensure that the uniforms are made to fit, since we can
personally tell the tailors our measurements," another officer
said.

Last year, the administration spent Rp 22 billion to buy the
uniforms which were distributed two months ago.

Mounting complaints from civil servants over the mistakes in
size and color of the uniforms have sparked suspicions of alleged
graft in the project.

Rois Hadayana Syaugi of the City Council's commission A
overseeing legal and administrative affairs said the
administration should pursue any alleged irregularities in the
procurement project.

"We plan to immediately summon the City Assets Office for a
hearing to seek clarification over alleged irregularities," said
another councillor, Ahmad Suaedy, who is also the commission
chairman.

A high-ranking city official, who asked to remain anonymous,
said that he would not object should the administration stop
requiring city officers to wear uniforms.

"Personally, I think that we have been squandering too much
money on the uniforms. The fund could be used to finance other
projects which have a greater impact on Jakarta residents," he
said.

The use of the uniform was "militaristic and against the
spirit of being civil servants: to serve the people," he said.