Govt to assist regions to disburse teachers' back pay

Govt to assist regions to disburse teachers' back pay

JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf
Kalla said on Friday that the central government would assist
certain regional administrations that were unable to pay
teachers' salary back pay.

Speaking at the legislature building after President Megawati
Soekarnoputri unveiled the 2001 state budget, Jusuf said that the
calculation of funds for regional administrations would end this
week.

He said regions considered eligible to receive the funds were
those whose regional incomes (PAD) were less than 30 percent of
the routine budget from central government.

A week-long nationwide teachers' strike has plagued many of
the country's provinces, including East Java, West Java, Lampung,
Jambi, Southeast Sulawesi, North Sulawesi and South Kalimantan.

In Jambi thousands of teachers continued their strike on
Friday and refused an offer from Jambi's city administration
which had promised to disburse 50 percent of the back pay this
month.

Jusuf said that basically, teachers' salaries fell under the
responsibility of regional administrations.

"But if they really have no funds, we will help them," he
said.

In Bandar Lampung, spokesman of Lampung city administration
Syaiful Anwar said that Lampung Mayor Soeharto had asked for a Rp
19.65 billion loan from the provincial and central government,
Antara reported.
He said one copy of the letter had also been sent to President
Megawati.

"If the loan is granted, the disbursement of teachers' back
pay will be made before October 15," he said.

If the provincial administration and central government could
not lend the money, the mayor would seek a loan from the Bank of
Lampung.

On Thursday, thousands of teachers staged a protest at the
office of Lampung's mayor.

Central government has insisted that it has disbursed the
funds for teachers' back pay through the so-called general
allocation fund (DAU), but a number of regional administrations
have failed to disburse the back pay from this year's budget.

The government increased the salaries of public school
teachers in April by 14 percent to 30 percent but has failed to
pay the increment for six months now.

In the Central Java town of Magelang, members of the local
legislative council and of the teachers' association (PGRI) will
soon meet to discuss the back pay problem.

So far there has been no teachers' strike in this regency, but
Chairman of Magelang PGRI chapter Sungadi could not guarantee
that the teachers would not follow the moves made by their
colleagues in other regions.

"As executives of PGRI we only act as facilitators so that the
teachers will not go on strike or hold street rallies," Sungadi
said. (02/hbk)