Government vows to increase wages for civil servants and troops

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono vowed on Friday to raise the wages of civil servants and military and police personnel as part of efforts to boost their professionalism and reduce corruption within the bureaucracy.

"I have ordered Minister of Finance Yusuf Anwar to immediately follow up on a plan to raise the salaries of civil servants. This is part of our strategy to reduce misuse of state funds and improve professionalism," said Susilo during a ceremony at the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas).

Low wages have been partly to blame for the widespread corruption in Indonesia's bureaucracy and law enforcement institutions, in addition to their low productivity and poor professionalism.

At present, an entry-level civil servant earns a monthly salary of Rp 905,400 (less than US$100), while those who have served for five years earn Rp 1.1 million. On average, civil servants are given an increase in their monthly salary of only Rp 40,000 per year of service.

However, not all civil servants of the same rank receive the same amount of take-home pay. This is because different government departments provide additional allowances.

Including allowances, civil servants working for the Ministry of Finance, for instance, receive the highest take-home pay compared to other ministries or state institutions, with an entry-level employee getting a monthly pay of some Rp 1.8 million.

Still, this is still in sharp contrast to the salaries earned by lawmakers -- who can rake in around Rp 15 million per month, excluding allowances and incidental income -- and to the salaries earned by most ordinary workers in the private sector.

An entry-level employee at a mid-size private firm, for example, might receive Rp 1.5 million per month, with an average increase in their monthly salary of at least Rp 150,000 for every year of service.

Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said the government was exploring the possibility of reducing unnecessary expenditure, so that more money could be allocated to increasing the salaries of civil servants.

"The President has instructed us to seek additional funds to raise the salaries of civil servants and soldiers. We are currently trying to cut some expenditure in the 2006 state budget in order to help fulfill this instruction," said Aburizal.

According to Aburizal, the government would gradually start raising salaries next year, with first priority going to low- ranking civil servants and soldiers, while raises for medium- and high-ranking officials would follow later.

Aburizal, however, refused to the disclose the amount of the planned salary increase next year.

There is no increase in wages planned for civil servants and military and police personnel for this year.

At present, there are around 3.6 million civil servants and 1.2 million pensioned civil servants, plus 500,000 military and police personnel.

In the 2005 state budget, the government has allocated Rp 34.6 trillion for salaries and allowances of civil servants and military personnel, up by 1 percent compared to that allocated in the 2004 state budget.