City to discipline offidials extending Idul Fitri holiday

JAKARTA (JP): Th city officials who did not return to work directly after Idul Fitri will be disciplined, Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Idroes said yesterday.

He said he had ordered all heads of the city administration offices and agencies to "take stern action against delinquent officials".

"It's the duty of all heads of offices and agencies to take action," Idroes said.

According to city personnel supervision data, the maximum penalty for an unexplained absence is a harsh warning from a unit chief.

Head of the city's inspectorate office, Djoko Brotosurjono, said yesterday his office had monitored attendance over the first three days after Idul Fitri and had submitted a report to the governor yesterday.

The governor would release the content of the report, he said.

Djoko said the monitoring found that some officials did not show up for work.

"The situation was back to normal on Thursday, with only five percent of officials reporting late for duty on that day," he said.

A member of the House of Representatives suggested the government declare Idul Fitri a five-day holiday, on the grounds that government offices remained empty two or three days after the official holidays.

Another "realistic" idea was aired by East Java Governor Basofi Sudirman, formerly a deputy governor of Jakarta. He suggested civil servants be given extra holidays over Idul Fitri. The suggestion was based on the fact that few people demand services during the Idul Fitri holiday.

Central Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi disagreed. "Civil servants must be ready as soon as the Idul Fitri holiday is over."

Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has made numerous appeals to city officials to comply with the national discipline movement by setting a good example on discipline.

On Tuesday, many City Hall officials went to work in the morning only to deliver Idul Fitri greetings to the governor and their colleagues. Soon after, most returned home.

Five thousand of the administration's 76,000 civil servants work at City Hall.

Djoko said the three-day evaluation found most officials showed up to work, but left early.

"Even though the officials did show up in the morning, they will still be given warnings for leaving the office early," he said.

Normally, City Hall operates from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.

Djoko said the office would conduct a thorough evaluation of the officials unexplained absences and reasons for arriving late.

"We will understand if they have logical explanation for coming late to the office," Djoko said.

He said officials had to fulfill their duty to provide services to the public.

"Fortunately, nobody asked for public services.. maybe they were still visiting relatives," Djoko said.

He said all his officials showed up yesterday except those on leave, sick or on assignment.

The inspectorate office and the city public order office have conducted random operations by checking officials' work attendance to improve civil servants' discipline.

In 1995, 440 tardy officials were netted in the operation. (ste)