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