Megawati slaps civil servants in the face for poor record

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.