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)