Ex-employees of liquidated ministries still unemployed
Ex-employees of liquidated ministries still unemployed
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is having difficulties
providing jobs for some 40,000 government employees in Jakarta
whose ministries were closed down by the central government.
According to the deputy governor for administrative affairs,
Abdul Kahfi, his office would be very selective in recruiting
government employees from dissolved ministries.
"Of course this is a burden for us. But the law on regional
autonomy states that it is compulsory for us to take care of
these employees, so we just have to find a way to give them
jobs," Kahfi said on Friday.
He said the city administration would give priority to those
people who were young, well-educated and able to pass a series of
tests to be administered by the city administration's recruitment
team.
"For those who are already of pension age we will not accept
them, so they will have to take their pensions," Kahfi stated.
The administration of President Abdurrahman Wahid has
liquidated several ministries and offices of state ministers
since coming to power last October.
The ministry of information and ministry of social affairs
were dissolved in the same month, leaving some 78,000 people
across the country without jobs and facing uncertain futures.
In a major overhaul last month, the President reduced his
Cabinet from 32 ministers to 26 ministers, merging several
ministries and dissolving others, leaving additional government
employees unemployed.
In an amendment to the 2000 City Budget, the administration
allocated funds to hire 1,136 employees from the Jakarta offices
of four dissolved offices of state ministers -- the office of the
state minister of public works; the office of the state minister
of cooperatives, small and medium enterprises; the office of the
state minister of transmigration and population; and the office
of the state minister of tourism and arts.
"We want to settle the placements as soon as we can but we all
know the city has just recovered from the economic crisis and we
have many other priorities, so just have to be very selective
about this," Kahfi said.
He added that numerous government employees still had not
found jobs following the closure of the agency for the
propagation of Pancasila in 1998.
"We have established a working team consisting of city
secretary officials, the city administration office and other
working units from this office.
"They have been working since last month to resolve the
problems," Kahfi said. (dja)