Employees of suspended banks

Employees of suspended banks

From Kompas

In representing the employees of one bank whose operation has been suspended (the minister of finance's term), we wish to express our disappointment with the way the new minister of finance announced the suspension of the seven private banks. While it is true that the government must take care of the interest of the banks' customers, the fate of the employees working at these banks also deserves the same amount of attention.

When the minister of finance announced the suspension of the operations of these seven banks, we could not help but feel it was a bitter joke, especially regarding the advice he calmly gave to the effect that the customers of the seven bans could go on with their weekend programs, relax and so forth. Certainly only well-to-do people could afford to do so, but not us, lower-level employees of a suspended bank, some of whom are married.

Has our fate, the employees of these seven banks, been given proper attention? Can we also relax and have a holiday as suggested by the finance minister? How can we if our own salaries cannot cover the cost of living and of our children's educations? Our demands are not many. It is to our great regret that the finance minister showed no concern when announcing the suspension of the operation of the seven banks.

This -- the lack of concern -- should not be construed as a joke to be watched by million of TV viewers across Indonesia, some of whom have also been laid off owing to this operational suspension.

We wish to ask the minister of manpower about our fate, the fate of those losing their jobs because of the operational suspension of the seven banks. We would like to know what the minister of manpower can do in our interests.

An employee

of a suspended bank

Jakarta