House Commission X Pushes for Teacher Welfare, Proposes Rp5 Million Minimum Salary

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Commission X, Lalu Hadrian Irfani, is pushing for improved teacher welfare by proposing a minimum salary of Rp5 million per month. “We have calculated in Commission X that a minimum of Rp5 million is a decent figure or the most appropriate nominal amount for teacher welfare,” Lalu Hadrian said when met at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Wednesday. The statement was made in response to President Prabowo Subianto’s speech, which mentioned that budget leaks have impacted teacher salaries. He viewed the Head of State’s speech on Tuesday positively. “We actually view this positively. The President wants to explain to the public why our teachers’ salaries have not increased optimally to this day,” he said. Lalu Hadrian acknowledged that teacher salaries have increased, but the rise has not been optimal, prompting him to urge the government to continue formulating a decent calculation. In the draft 2027 budget posture, he noted, the government has prepared salary and allowance increases for teachers, both civil servants (ASN) and non-ASN. As a legislator overseeing the education sector, he is anticipating the government’s policy. “We will observe his financial note speech on 16 August, but we believe the President has already considered this, as he often says everywhere that teacher welfare is a priority,” he stated. Previously, President Prabowo highlighted budget leaks due to fraudulent export reports by business actors, which have caused state losses of up to thousands of trillions of rupiah, consequently affecting teacher salaries. “We have lost 908 billion dollars over 34 years, or Rp15 thousand trillion. Rp15 thousand trillion, brothers and sisters, all this data has come out, I want to convey it in this forum,” the President said in his speech at the closing of the Nahdlatul Ulama National Conference and Grand Conference in Bangkalan, East Java, yesterday. The President stated he wanted to provide understanding to the kiai attending the NU conference that these budget leaks have caused a state budget shortfall, impacting the salaries of teachers and civil servants. “I want you, NU leaders, as leaders, as ulama, as teachers, as guides of the people, to understand why teacher salaries cannot be good, why civil servant salaries cannot be good, why the budget is always insufficient, right? Because the money is not there,” the President said.