Govt to provide 13th-month bonus to civil servants

Govt to provide 13th-month bonus to civil servants

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta

The government passed on good news on Wednesday to around 5
million active and retired civil servants and Indonesian Military
and National Police personnel that they would receive doubled
salaries and pension funds in June.

State Minister of Administrative Reforms Feisal Tamin told a
House of Representatives hearing that the government would pay
next month a 13th-month salary and pension bonus in an effort to
improve civil servants' welfare.

"The extra salary will be equal to their regular monthly
income, which consists of a basic salary and family and living
allowances," Feisal told House Commission II for legal and
domestic affairs.

The policy is expected to cost the state at least Rp 5.5
trillion (US$611 million), according to Feisal.

He said the government would issue a regulation to enable it
disburse the funds for the 13th-month bonus.

"At present, a draft government regulation is with the State
Secretary, and it is expected to be submitted to President
Megawati Soekarnoputri soon," he said.

Commission II deputy chairman Abdul Rachman Gaffar said the
House fully supported the policy.

Feisal said the government had increased the basic salary of
civil servants, police and military personnel, as well as pension
allowance for retirees through Government Regulation Nos. 11, 12,
13 and 14, all issued last year.

Living allowances for police have also been increased in
accordance with a presidential decree, while the President is
studying a planned rise in allowances for judges.

Separately, Feisal also announced that 495 civil servants
would resign or be dismissed, as they had joined political
parties.

Data at the administrative reforms office shows that of these,
324 joined political parties in 1999 and 171 contested the April
5 legislative election.

Of the 114 civil servants who were nominated legislative
candidates, 63 had been dismissed or had retired voluntarily, 50
were in the process of being dismissed and one had passed away,
he said.

Commission II has urged Feisal to take firm action against
those who did not have a clear status due to their decision to be
nominated as legislators in the recent election.

Of the 151 civil servants who joined parties after the
implementation of Law No. 43/1999 on general elections, 85 were
dismissed or retired, three had decided to request that they be
reinstated as civil servants, 29 were in the process of being
dismissed and one had passed away, while 33 others had no clear
status.

Of the 173 civil servants who had joined parties since 1999,
11 were dismissed, 97 reinstated, six were in the process of
being dismissed and the remaining 59 had no clear status.

Feisal said civil servants were also not permitted to
participate in presidential campaigns, and that he had issued a
circular on sanctions that would be imposed on those who breached
political neutrality, which included immediate dismissals.