Civil servants demand Idul Fitri bonuses

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Civil Servants Corps (Korpri) demanded on Monday that the government provide an Idul Fitri bonus to the country's 3.7 million civil servants.

The state budget does not provide money for the bonuses, leaving government bodies at the national and local levels to decide on their own how much of a bonus they can provide employees.

Korpri deputy chairman Sapta Nirwandar said: "We hope the bonuses will be delivered at least one week before Idul Fitri, and that they amount to at least one month's basic salary."

Sapta said the money for the bonuses could be taken from the oil revenue in the budget.

He said Korpri chairman Feisal Tamin, who is also the state minister for administrative reforms, had made exactly this demand during a Cabinet meeting on Nov. 6.

"But so far we have yet to receive any response," Sapta said.

Rank I civil servants receive a basic monthly salary of about Rp 600,000 (US$70), rank II receive Rp 700,000, rank III get Rp 800,000 and rank IV earn a basic monthly salary of Rp 1.2 million. --JP