Courage in crisis

Courage in crisis

Given the limited funds at the government's disposal, President Megawati's decision to raise the routine budget is worth complimenting.

Salaries of the military and police personnel and pensioners will go up by 10 percent as from January 1, 2003 while teachers will enjoy a 50 percent increase in their allowances starting October 1, 2002.

The routine budget has also been increased because of the government's plan to recruit more civil servants (particularly teachers, medical personnel, soldiers and police personnel), preparations for the 2004 General Election, natural disaster management and reserve funds in case of additional budgetary expenditure.

However, the government needs to show further courage in removing civil servants who have shown poor performance, especially those asking for bribes, an act prompted, perhaps, by their low salaries.

Still, to achieve greater efficiency and improve services, the government must show further courage and take up China as its model.

Formerly, the Chinese bureaucracy was very corrupt but after the government replaced the division heads upwards with fresh blood not yet contaminated by corruption, China has been relatively free of corruption. Unauthorized fees, which jack up investment and production costs, have virtually disappeared. Hence the very low prices of Chinese products.

So, the government must have the courage to restructure the civil service as a whole.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta