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)