Civil servants and discipline

Civil servants and discipline

Military discipline is admittedly tighter than civil servants' discipline. In this relation the Minister of Administrative Reforms, T.B. Silalahi, opines that civil servants' discipline needs to be enhanced.

In his keynote speech before a seminar held by the Association of the Indonesian Indigenous Entrepreneurs (HIPPI), Minister Silalahi emphasized that military discipline should be imposed on civil servants.

To date many civil servants tend to violate the official office hours. They arrive at the office late and leave early. No sanction is given for the undisciplined employees. Another phenomenon is that many civil servants are found to be idling rather than doing their jobs. This is not to say that all civil servants, 4.9 million altogether, are not working properly. But this gives the impression that the civil servants are no other than disguised unemployed.

To apply military discipline in the civil servants' domain is highly necessary if national development is to progress in the manner we desire.

-- Suara Pembaruan, Jakarta