Clarification on back pay demanded

Clarification on back pay demanded

JAKARTA (JP): At least 200 elementary and high school teachers
from Garut in West Java staged a protest at the House of
Representatives building here on Monday, demanding disbursement
of six months' back pay which is nearly three months overdue.

The protesters held a public forum in the House compound,
where they unfurled posters and banners reading Bayarkan rapel
guru! (Disburse the teachers' back pay), Guru sejahtera, murid
pintar (If the teachers are paid better, students will be clever)
and Pemerintah harus memperhatikan nasib guru (The government
must pay attention to the teachers' fate).

Protest coordinator Dadang Djohar said all teachers in Garut
regency had decided to stop teaching for three days starting
Monday and would continue the strike for the whole week if the
government failed to meet their demands.

"The government should not look down upon the teaching
profession and the back pay issue because if that is the case,
the education process will be severely affected," he said.

Dadang said the teachers were very disappointed by the
government's lack of attention to education, including the back
pay issue, in regions. The local administrations have also
remained silent on the issue.

"We come here after being informed by officials of the Garut
administration that the central government has yet to disburse
teachers's back pay to the regency," he said.

Thousands of teachers in other provinces have protested the
delays over recent weeks.

The government decided in April to raise the teachers'
salaries by between 30 percent and 40 percent retrospectively as
of Jan. 1. Even though it decided to settle the back pay payment
in July, teachers in many regions have still not received the
funds.

Responding to the protest, House Deputy Speaker Muhaimin
Iskandar promised on Monday to take the case to the next hearing
with Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fadjar and
Minister of Finance Boediono.

"We are of the same opinion that the back pay problem must be
resolved immediately to avoid unrest among teachers in regions,"
he said in a discussion with the protesters.

Meanwhile, thousands of teachers in Jambi, protesting at the
Jambi mayoralty office on Monday, rejected Mayor H. Arifin
Manaf's apology for failing to settle the back pay problem.

"I apologize and demand understanding from you because funds
to pay the back pay for 7,720 teachers in the city have not been
fully met," Arifin said, pledging to look for other ways,
including urging the central government to send additional funds.

Jambi needs funds of Rp 13.7 billion (US$1.48 million), of
which only Rp 6.6 billion was given by the central government,
Antara reported.

"We can't accept the mayor's arguments," he said, adding that
many teachers from other regions have received their payment.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said in Bandung on
Monday that the government will try to settle the back pay issue
before the next fasting month in December.

"Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla,
Boediono, representatives of the Ministry of National Education
and myself are currently discussing the problem. In short, it is
expected to be resolved before 2002," Hari said after a meeting
with officials of the West Java province.

He admitted it is still unclear from which source the funds
will be raised, saying that out of the 400 regencies throughout
the country only between 7.5 percent and 10 percent had not
received the general allocation fund to reimburse the back pay,
including Nganjuk and Madiun in East Java.

Hari also said that the number of civil servants who had not
received their payment was relatively small.

"But however small, it should not be neglected. The government
is fully aware about that, especially the teachers' welfare," he
said.

Delay in the back pay settlement should be a good lesson for
regency administrations who had utilized the general allocation
funds to finance development projects, Hari said.

"If they receive such funds in the future, they should not
only think about development projects, but also how to pay the
civil servants' salaries," he said.

In a bid to help resolve the back pay problem, the Bandung
provincial administration was forced to borrow Rp 40 billion from
the West Java Bank.

"We were forced to do this because the administration's 2001
budget is in deficit by about Rp 14 billion," said Dada Rosada,
Bandung city administration secretary.

Bandung Legislative Council speaker Isa Subagja said that the
council approved the loan on consideration that the funds can be
used to help avoid protests from the teachers, like those
happening in other areas.

The Bandung administration is obliged to disburse back pay to
22,975 civil servants, including 18,000 teachers and
administration officials of the education offices. (rms/25/hhr)