Govt to screen all civil servants
Govt to screen all civil servants
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government will administer a nationalism test to all civil
servants throughout the country from July 1 through July 31 to
ensure that all state employees are completely loyal to the
unitary republic of Indonesia, the home affairs minister
disclosed on Sunday.
The screening is initially planned for civil servants working
in Aceh, where government troops are battling Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) rebels.
"All civil servants are bound to their oath to remain loyal to
the state and the law. Although they are not in Aceh, civil
servants must have the integrity and commitment to the state and
the nation," minister Hari Sabarno said after attending a plenary
session of the Jakarta Council, marking the 476th anniversary of
Jakarta, on Sunday.
The testing process will affect all 4.1 million civil servants
throughout the country.
Hari emphasized that the screening would be different from
similar practices conducted by the New Order regime, because the
process would be renamed to "re-registration".
When asked how the government would be able to absolutely
determine a civil servant's loyalty to the state, Hari retorted:
"From their answers."
Hari, however, refused to go into detail about the "re-
registration" process or exactly what sorts of things the civil
servants would be made to do.
He only said that the State Personnel Agency (BKN) would soon
distribute check lists to all regions, from which the commitment
of the civil servants could be identified.
The minister, however, also refused to disclose what
punishment the government would mete out if it found anybody with
"questionable commitment" to the nation.
Meanwhile, BKN head Hardiyanto, who accompanied the minister,
said that the registration process would be carried out to update
data on civil servants in light of the implementation of regional
autonomy in 2000, and the transfer of civil servants from the
central government to regional administrations.
The plan comes on the heels of several arrests of politicians
and government officials in Aceh.
The Aceh martial law administration has thus far arrested and
detained more than ten officials and politicians as well as a
businessman, for what was claimed to be support for GAM
separatists.
Legislator Ahmad Farhan Hamid and rights activist Munir have
questioned the necessity and rationale of the planned screening
in Aceh and said that the policy only showed the government's
inability to solve problems in Aceh.
Both Farhan and Munir feared the screening would only result
in discrimination.