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.