Civil servants asked to change work status

JAKARTA (JP): About 1,000 civil servants employed in six of the seven city-owned firms will be invited to relinquish their status and become regular staff members of the companies, a senior official said on Monday.

Those wishing to remain civil servants will be removed to the city administration office, head of the employee affairs bureau of the city administration Adjat Wiraatmadja said.

The plan is designed to speed up the administration's agenda to professionalize the firms.

"We hope the plan could be carried out in stages beginning at the end of this year, and we'll choose only the well-prepared companies first," he said.

The companies will be allowed to recruit their own employees in the event all 1,000 civil servants decide to retain their status.

The six enterprises are construction and city asset supervision firm PD Sarana Jaya, slaughterhouse operator PD Dharma Jaya, market management firm PD Pasar Jaya, hotel and tourism company PD Wisata Niaga Jaya, tap water firm PDAM Jaya and waste water management company PD Pal Jaya.

The city administration, which has a total of 70,000 civil servants, also runs Bank DKI, which is excluded from the program.

Adjat said the plan was based on a 1994 Minister of Home Affairs decree which regulated that companies run by provincial administrations and planning to be professional firms should not hire civil servants as their employees.

Although conceding that civil servants had a poor public image, he believed the scheme might spur them to better professionalism.

"Many people have often experienced their poor service," Adjat said.

"It is strongly hoped that, under the scheme, the employees of city-run companies could show better performance."

In the scheme's early stages, top executives of the companies will not be included, he said. (ind)