Megawati slaps civil servants in the face for poor record

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri paid the ultimate insult to Indonesia's bureaucrats during the opening of the civil servants' national meeting in Jakarta on Monday.

Exasperated with what she called a culture of inefficiency and laziness, the President asked for a copy of the speech she made during the same meeting last year to be redistributed.

"It will be a waste of time if we have to go through those problems over and over again without making progress."

Since taking office in July 2001, Megawati has expressed her displeasure with the performance of civil servants.

In her latest attack Monday, the President told the bureaucrats to reform themselves and build a more professional culture.

She said the poor attendance of civil servants at work was an example of the lack of professionalism.

"Many of them corrupt their time ... I could give a salary increase up to Rp 10 million a month, but does it guarantee better working performances?" Megawati asked in an off-the-cuff speech.

She said the bureaucrat's poor performance was a chronic problem that needed addressing.

"The country needs a new and accountable bureaucracy and to achieve that bureaucrats must reform."

Despite her anger, she fell short of announcing any reform measures.

Megawati was responding to State Minister for Administrative Reform Feisal Tamin who forwarded the civil servants' demands for salary increases to match those of private employees who earn five times as much.

The President has repeatedly criticized the bureaucrats, once calling them a trash can which hampered her administration from conducting reforms.

She also accused the bureaucrats of a failure to cooperate with the government or obey her orders.

Feisal had earlier said the country might remove almost half of the 3.9 million civil servants in the country for the sake of efficiency.

He said that only 40 percent of those numbers worked professionally, while the rest strolled through shopping malls during work hours.

However, the concept to reduce the number was yet to be finalized, Feisal said.