Finance officials must be diligent

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad urged his office staff yesterday to be more focused on the public interest and to guard against waste and inefficiency.

"The public interest should have our greatest attention and be our main concern," Mar'ie said during a speech delivered at a ceremony commemorating Indonesia's 49th Monetary Day.

He said mismanagement in the monetary sector would disadvantage the country by resulting in a lack of public facilities and other obstacles to growth.

In the banking and financial sectors, he said, losses and waste would result in a high-cost economy, hindering national development efforts.

"High costs will affect the efforts to increase national productivity and development," he said.

Mar'ie said the government's current tight monetary and fiscal policies have helped to boost national development and, in turn, increased state revenues from tax receipts.

"Cutting back on routine expenditures has helped to increase government savings. This has significantly reduced the dependency on foreign loans," he said.

At the ceremony, Mar'ie presented the Satyalencana Karya Satya service award from President Soeharto to 923 current and retired officials of the Ministry of Finance. He also presented certificates of merit from the ministry to 520 retirees.

Among those who received the Satyalencana Karya Satya award were Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo and Director General of Tax Fuad Bawazier. (kod/pwn)