Medan officers take examination

Medan officers take examination

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

Seeking promotions, more than 1,000 mid-level civil servants
of the North Sumatra provincial administration underwent tests of
their knowledge and managerial skills on Wednesday.

The screening the 1,204 civil servants took place at the
governor's office and the hall of the University of North
Sumatra, where they also completed earlier tests in English,
psychology and physical checkups.

Some of the tests were administered by civil servants'
subordinates.

Assistant for Administrative Reform Ridha Amran Siregar said
that the testing was carried out to fill the second-ranked
positions which were scheduled to be settled before the end of
December.

"The program will also be useful to enrich our database on
civil servants," he added, "especially in inventorying their
potential and achievements."

Ridha said his office has received names of officials at
another provincial administration recommended by Jakarta to be
assessed for the top-echelon positions.

Councillor Zahrin Piliang, the secretary of the council's
Commission I overseeing the administration, urged Governor Rizal
Nurdin to make public the test results to ensure that the
administration assigned the right men to the appropriate posts.

"We've found too many cases of unprofessional staffing in the
administration -- we deemed the placement full of corruption,
collusion and nepotism practices," he told The Jakarta Post at
his office. "That's why we urged such a test."