Job seekers 'must be compensated'

Job seekers 'must be compensated'

JAKARTA (JP): A lawyer and a city councilor urged the Ministry
of Home Affairs or the city administration on Friday to pay
compensation to hundreds of job seekers who were misled by a
ministry positions vacant advertisement.

Apong Herlina, chairwoman of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute,
and Sylviana Murni, a member of City Council Commission A for
administrative affairs, said that as most applicants had spent at
least Rp 10,000 (90 U.S. cents) to complete the requirements and
extra on transportation, they deserved financial compensation.

On Thursday, about 150 applicants arrived at the city
administration office only to find they had been misled by a
newspaper advertisement placed by the Ministry of Home Affairs on
Sept. 12 and a ministry circular.

According to the ad and circular, the ministry was to recruit
7,204 people to work in both central government and local
administrations. The ad stated that the Jakarta administration
alone would recruit 318 people and applications should be
submitted on Thursday and Friday.

Notices posted at City Hall stating that there was no plan to
recruit staff at the administration disappointed them.

Apong said the job seekers had a right to expect not to be
fooled by the government. "They deserve compensation," she said,
adding that the incident showed a lack of coordination between
the ministry and the administration.

Apong said either the administration or the ministry should
release a statement explaining the incident.

She said she could not justify the ministry's or
administration's actions, saying "this incident increases
people's distrust of the authority. If an official statement is
misleading, which parties they should trust then?" she said.

Councilor Sylviana shared Apong's views, agreeing that the
case had shown a lack of coordination between the ministry and
the administration.

She said that after the matter was cleared up, one of the two
parties should make a public apology through the media.

Another 50 applicants turned up at the administration's
personnel department on Friday on the off chance that there were
jobs available.

Some of them said they did not believe the administration had
no plans to recruit staff.

"I still believe the ministry circular as I think it is
official," said Vonny, one applicant. "How can an official
ministry letter be erroneous?"

Even though a large "no vacancy" notice was visible at the
office, applicants still waited for official statements to be
released by the city administration. But no city official had met
with them by midday.

One of the office's security guards said his superior did not
want to meet them as a notice was enough. "I've tried to ask him
to calm them down and ask them to go home, but he refused to do
so," the guard, who asked not to be named, said.

"I just want to check whether the office has received my
application letter just so I can feel satisfied. If it is just to
be destroyed later, it doesn't matter," said another applicant,
Mia. (ind)