Govt paying 109,000 absentee civil servants

Govt paying 109,000 absentee civil servants

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A minister disclosed on Monday that the government has been
paying salaries to about 109,000 civil servants whose whereabouts
are unknown, indicating the poor state of data on public
employees nationwide.

State Minister of Administrative Reforms Feisal Tamim said
that his office was investigating the case. He claimed that some
of the people who drew a salary turned up at the office only on
payday, while others no longer worked for the government but
their former offices kept their pay packets.

"We are still scrutinizing the data on all civil servants
because we suspect that these people no longer work for the
government. We never heard of such cases in the past," Feisal
said.

The minister said, for example, that many civil servants had
left for overseas to study, but after completing their studies
had decided not to return to their civil service jobs.

"They continue receiving a monthly salary from the state after
completing their studies even though they no longer work for the
government," he said.

By law, civil servants who study overseas are required to
return to their jobs and remain at them for at least five years
upon the completion of their studies. Only those who have worked
as civil servants for at least five years are allowed to study
abroad.

The government has been paying more than Rp 111.7 billion a
month (US$13 million) for the absentee employees.

Each absentee employee is paid an average of Rp 1 million per
month.

The government employs four million civil servants, most of
whom work in rural areas.

Feisal said the 109,000 absentee civil servants had been
detected during the updating of data on all civil servants in the
government's attempt to revamp the bureaucracy, especially public
offices in regions with a view to streamlining.

"So far, we have updated data on 95 percent of civil servants
across the country," he added.

Feisal has complained several times that 60 percent of the
country's civil servants are unproductive and unskilled and had
proposed laying off 40 percent of them. His proposal was turned
down due to a lack of funds to cover severance payments.

Feisal said it was shameful that those who had received a
better education had chosen to leave the civil service and work
in the private sector.

"It is also shameful that they have received a better
education but are unwilling to dedicate themselves to give better
services to the public," the minister said.

Feisal said the government would continue to evaluate the
performance of civil servants in an effort to encourage them to
improve public services.