Generous pay, pathetic performance
Oh the irony that has overwhelmed the country for the past few months. Government and state officials, apparently without any sense of crisis, have stuffed generous salary increases into their already bulging wallets. The performance of these happy, happy officials, however, is still eclipsed by their skyrocketing salaries.
What performance, one may ask? Firstly, let's look at what the Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) has achieved during the past year. About 110,000 tsunami victims have been living in makeshift tents waiting for appropriate and permanent shelters. The BRR has so far built about 26,000 homes.
In the meantime, its chief receives Rp 76 million a month -- a salary higher than the President's -- and a minister's, while his deputies get Rp 56 million.
Then there is the Bank Indonesia chief who sought a Rp 2.5 billion (US$ 272,300) salary a year -- his deputy governors wanted a little less. Did they not remember the country's economic woes earlier in the year? Soaring world oil prices that dampened our currency to its lowest ever rate against the greenback? What did BI do to safeguard the rupiah? The requested pay was even higher than the U.S. President, who receives only $200,000 a year!
Then there was the state oil and gas company PT Pertamina's president director receiving Rp 150 million a month, with his deputies getting Rp 140 million each and their commissioners half that amount. So how is PT Pertamina going? As world oil prices soared and oil-producing countries reaped windfall profits, international squabbles and inaction meant the company experienced shrinking production. Then there were the chaotic fuel shortages nationwide, not to mention the various corruption allegations -- like fuel smuggling -- that still hang over it. The guys at the top deserve a bonus, I reckon.
Of course, the House of Representatives (DPR) members and leaders whose pay rise had been okayed months earlier from around Rp 24 million -- the 1999-2004 salaries -- to Rp 50 million had also recently been given an additional bonus of Rp 10 million, meaning their take home pay was around 60 million a month, sans corruption, of course. Many had noted their earlier promise to enact 55 bills into law in 2005, unfortunately, they fell far short of this target. Of course they did; the members were far too preoccupied with their own businesses and overseas trips.
That's why it's time to strongly support President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's plan to restructure government officials pay -- so what they receive is comparable with the responsibilities they shoulder.
M. RUSDI Jakarta