Govt plans bonus for civil servants in 2004
Govt plans bonus for civil servants in 2004
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is planning to provide bonuses equal to a month's
salary for civil servants starting next year in order to help
improve their welfare, Minister of Finance Boediono said on
Thursday.
"We can accommodate this in next year's state budget," he told
reporters on the sidelines of the 57th Finance Day.
The proposal has yet to be approved by the House of
Representatives, as the government and lawmakers have not yet
completed the ongoing deliberation of the draft 2004 state
budget.
"The decision on whether or not the plan would be feasible
next year will come from that debate," he said.
Under the draft 2004 budget, Rp 56.8 trillion (US$6.72
billion) of the government's regular expenditures of Rp 185.8
trillion has been allocated toward personnel spending.
That figure for this year is Rp 50.2 trillion.
Boediono declined to indicate whether the proposal was an
effort to reduce corruption among government officials, and only
said that, "at the end of the day, corruption depends on the
conscience of each personnel in determining what is right and
wrong".
Corruption has been flourishing unchecked among civil
servants, and analysts have said this was partly due to their
inadequate wages.
It is also unclear whether the proposal was aimed to drum up
political support ahead of the 2004 general elections.
Indonesia currently has 3.8 million civil servants posted
across the country. They account for 1.8 percent of the total
population of 215 million, and their voter support would give a
significant edge to any party.
Since the so-called reform era, civil servants are no longer
obliged to vote for certain political party, and are now free to
determine their own political interests.
Box
House delays 2004 budget approval
JAKARTA: A number of unfinished contentious issues has led the
House of Representatives to delay the approval of the 2004 state
budget draft, which has been earlier scheduled on Oct. 30.
At a plenary meeting, the House agreed to give more time to
the budget commission to complete the budget debate until Nov.
10, when the House will hold a plenary meeting for approval.
Abdullah Zainie, chairman of the budget commission, said on
Thursday that the delay was inevitable as there were still issues
have yet to be settled between the legislators and the
government.
Among other things, he said, the most crucial issue centered
on the budget allocation for foreign debt payments, both
principals and interest, for next year.
While the government has proposed the amount of Rp 68
trillion, legislators demanded less, urging the government to
hold bilateral talks with creditors to get debt relief or
rescheduling facility.
However, Minister of Finance Boediono said that such bilateral
move was not feasible, because creditors had set up a special
multilateral forum called the Paris Club for debt rescheduling
talks.
The government has said that the country will no longer be
eligible for the Paris Club debt rescheduling facility because
the current International Monetary Fund economic reform program
will no longer be extended when it expires later this year.