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.