Corruption and pay

Corruption and pay

Opposition to the government's plan to give sizable pay raises
to senior state and government officials is spreading across the
nation, from the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) to ordinary people. While I do not want to add my name to
the list of people who oppose the plan, I have some
considerations:

1. Compared to other countries in Asia which were also hit by
the economic crisis, Indonesia is in the worst state. Why?
Because we were also hit by social and political crises. Those
are the facts. So far, we have not seen any real action of the
government to improve our economy.

2. We have yet to know the performance of the members of
Cabinet as well as members of the House of Representatives (DPR).
Do we have to spend that much taxpayers' money for them? We
should start to apply the concept that one is paid for his/her
performance -- on merit -- rather than for position or status.

3. The state budget for the year 2000 is projecting a budget
deficit, meaning that we will have to secure additional loans to
cover the budget. It would be better for us to spend the money on
efforts at creating new jobs.

4. Comparing the salary of our president with the salaries of
the Bank Mandiri president director and the chief of the
Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency should not be the reason for
increasing the salary of the President. On the contrary, we
should study whether the Bank Mandiri president and the chief of
IBRA are overpaid.

5. We should know how much in a year total compensation is
paid to the members of Cabinet and members of the House, which
includes meeting allowances, and benefits such as housing, cars
and medical care.

6. It would be irrelevant to compare the salary of Singapore's
prime minister as a reference in determining the salary of our
president. Our country's condition is totally different from that
of Singapore, not to mention differences in the nation's per
capita income.

7. In general, most Indonesians are now suffering
economically. Psychologically, we have to share that feeling if
we really want to get their support to rebuild our country.

8. People's needs keep changing and tend to increase,
especially in terms of quality as a result of the increase in
their income. Therefore, there is still a question mark over
whether raising salaries will actually lead to a reduction in the
prevalence of corruption.

M. SULHAN ASKANDAR

Jakarta