Governor fires 37 city officials for misconduct

Governor fires 37 city officials for misconduct

JAKARTA (JP): Thirty-seven city administration officials have
been fired for violating regulations and codes of conduct,
Governor Sutiyoso said yesterday.

Speaking at the flag-hoisting ceremony at City Hall to
commemorate Jakarta's 471th anniversary, Sutiyoso said that
the 37 dismissed officials were among 251 employees who had been
sanctioned for a number of offenses.

"I am very disappointed to see that there are still so many of
my officials who have to be punished with such administrative
sanctions," he said.

Sutiyoso said 27 of the officials had been demoted and eight
others had had their salaries slashed for their misconduct.

Fourteen other employees were given an official notice of poor
performance, 69 officials were given a less stern written
reprimand and the remaining 96 officials were only warned.

Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi said
the sanctions were given to the 251 officials in line with
suggestions from the city's newly established Commission on
Reform Control and Supervision.

Kahfi made the remark after attending the City Council's
extraordinary plenary session to commemorate Jakarta's
anniversary.

The commission began assessing the administration's civil
servants in the middle of last month. All the disobedient
officials were questioned thoroughly, Kahfi said. "We've ...
recorded all the examination processes in the dossiers."

Kahfi, who is the head of the commission, said that the
imposition of the sanctions on the 251 officials was only a part
of the commission's actions in the campaign against corruption,
collusion, cronyism and nepotism.

"The sanctioned officials were from a cross-section of ranks
and offices. The lightest violation was disobeying office hours
while the most serious was collecting illegal levies."

He said that the commission was still working hard on its
objective to help the city eradicate corruption and collusion.

"Our focus is on the personnel in the public service affairs
offices. It's very important to create clean and trustworthy
governance."

"We admit there are officials who still dare to collect levies
in the current reform era," he added.

The commission's establishment was officially announced by
Sutiyoso on June 12.

Kahfi is assisted by four high-ranking officials. The body's
activities are divided into public service, the budget,
expenditure, and law and organization.

Kahfi denied allegations that the commission had closed its
doors to outside opinions.

"Not only are we open to suggestions from the City Council but
also from the public," he said. (cst)