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)