Latief warns officials about illegal levies

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief yesterday warned his subordinates in the regions that he will punish them severely if they are caught imposing levies on members of the public they serve.

"Don't be surprised if the head office takes stern action," Latief said when opening a four-day conference with senior ministry officials and the heads of the ministry's provincial offices.

The ministry has already removed a number of officials in the past who were suspected of charging unofficial levies. But the practice has remained rampant to this day, he said.

He singled out the Directorate General for Industrial Relations and Workers Standards and the Directorate General for Workers Placement as the most notorious for imposing levies.

He placed the burden of improving the image of the ministry on the regional chiefs. "The officials should feel ashamed if their subordinates are caught collecting illegal levies," he said.

Latief, a former businessman himself, is heading the government's campaign to phase out levies, official and otherwise, to ease the burden on companies now under strong pressure from foreign competition.

As the minister most responsible for overseeing the welfare of Indonesian workers, Latief has found that each time he tries to raise official minimum wages, business leaders balk by demanding that the government eliminate the various levies that have been a big burden on their cost of operations.

One of the objectives of the conference is to draft the national manpower planning for Indonesia for the period to 2018, the end of the 10th Five Year Plan, and prepare the nation for the next century, which Latief describes as the era of openness and free trade.

Latief said that a series of reforms carried out by the government in favor of workers in recent years has helped push workers to side with the government.

"We have to take advantage of this momentum, especially in winning the upcoming general election (in 1997)," he said, without elaborating.

These reforms, which include strengthening the workers' union, have silenced Indonesian critics abroad who have attacked Indonesia's industrial relations, he said.

Latief also underlined Indonesia's drive to send workers abroad, pointing out that by 2000, some 2.5 million Indonesians will be working overseas, whose total remittances are expected to reach $12.5 billion a year. (16)