Long weekends: Momentum toward efficiency

The introduction of long weekends for our civil servants is not meant to add leisure time because by lengthening their hours on five workdays the total weekly time spent on the job will remain 40 hours.

Instead the new changes are intended to create a momentum for the revival of our political will and professional determination to render better public service by working more efficiently.

The changes will be ushered in on Aug. 17, 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the republic. The timing is not without meaning. For what is the goal of a free Indonesia but for us to endeavor together for a more prosperous life -- with justice, respect for law and democracy -- for the free and sovereign people of a free and sovereign state.

To implement the new rule the government can work hand-in-hand with the media, with strategic groups, with the business community and with other societal organizations, in a spirit not unlike the "total football" gung-ho.

The infamous unproductiveness of our civil servants is not at all the result of sloth or ignorance, but more due to a lack of work, and opportunity for work, made available to them by the existing organizational structures and their incumbent corps of leaders and managers. Such being the case, also needed is a revamping of the organizational set up and some fresh faces in leadership roles.

We should strive for a new momentum with the renewal of the civil servants' work hours a year from now.

The year-long preparatory work is the task of us all.

-- Kompas, Jakarta