Civil servants need a raise: Expert
Civil servants need a raise: Expert
JAKARTA (JP): Economist Arsjad Anwar said the government
mustraise the salaries of civil servants to reach parity with
workers in the private sector.
The economics professor at the University of Indonesia said
the take-home salaries of government workers have fallen below
those oftheir counterparts in private companies.
If the trend continues, it could affect the quality of human
resources in the administration, he told an economics seminar in
Jakarta on Saturday.
He warned that the civil service might be deprived of
thenation's best workers, most ow whom would undoubtedly prefer
to work in the private sector where the remunerations are higher.
"From my observation, many highly qualified people opt to work
for private companies. The government is having problems in
recruiting the best university graduates because it cannot match
the salaries now being offered by private companies," he said as
quoted by the Antara news agency.
His remarks came as the country's four million)strong civil
servant work force anxiously waits to hear whether or not their
pay will go up next year.
President Soeharto is scheduled to unveil the government's
draft budget for the fiscal year 1995/96 in the first week of
January, at which time he will disclose any salary increase
information for next year.
With the rapid growth of the private business sector in the
1980s, civil service jobs have lost their prestige typical in the
1960 and 1970s. The only remaining advantages of government jobs
are guaranteed life)time employment and secured pension plans.
Many cabinet ministers have also complained about the "brain
drain" from the government sector to the private sector in recent
years.
Arsjad admitted that he had never researched the issue and
could not precisely ascertain the gap in the salary levels
between the private and public sector, but said that he knows for
certain that the gap is disturbingly wide, especially for highly
qualified people.
He also argued for an increase in the salary for civil
servants to eliminate embezzlement, corruption and other forms of
wrongdoings in the administration.
Better pay will help to ensure a cleaner and more
dignifiedgovernment, he added.
He emphasized that although money was not everything and a
higher salary was not the only factor determining a clean
government, they would at least help the administration to thrive
and succeed.
Arsjad said the government may also need to cut down the size
of the civil service and draw up exact job descriptions for each
employee to promote optimal efficiency and productivity.
He admitted that hiking the salaries of civil servants
overnight was impossible given the government's limited
resources. But it is important for the government to show its
intention now and to gradually work on narrowing the
disparity.(pwn)