Civil servants' pay and corruption

Civil servants' pay and corruption

From Kompas

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's chairman, Aburizal Bakrie, said that corruption by civil servants can be eradicated by improving their salaries (Kompas, Sept. 15). Coordinating Minister for Development Supervision/State Administration Hartarto said that the government has formed a team to study a pay increase for civil servants and Armed Forces personnel (Kompas, Sept. 16).

Corruption does not lie with the size of a salary but depends on the moral values of the incumbent. The people committing corruption on a large scale are those with adequate salaries and good positions. Low-echelon employees in uncertain jobs can hardly indulge in corruption.

The intention to eradicate corruption already occurred before this reform era. It happened both during the Old Order and the New Order regimes.

Corruption in Indonesia is very chronic. There is a saying in Aceh that even though a chicken is well-fed it will always jump on the roof. It seems difficult to abolish corruption. Also, our legal system is not like Malaysia's (reversal of the burden of proof). The total number of civil servants and Armed Forces personnel is about four million. In the present condition it is a burden to the government. The number of ineffective civil servants should be reduced, except in state-owned companies. In regional administration offices, for example, there is a surplus of civil servants.

The government should stop recruiting new civil servants over the next few years in the current economic situation.

A. HAMIDY

Banda Aceh, Aceh