Minister refuses to downsize bureaucracy

Minister refuses to downsize bureaucracy

JAKARTA (JP): The government has turned down proposals to cut
the four-million strong civil service to improve efficiency.

"We have no intention to trim the bureaucracy because we don't
want to please bureaucrats who remain in office while plunging
others (who have to go) into misery," State Minister of
Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi said yesterday.

Instead, the government will continue taking austerity
measures and freeze the number of civil servants, he said before
attending a ministerial meeting at the Presidential Office.

Calls for the government to rationalize its work-force came
from members of the House of Representatives in January after
President Soeharto presented the draft 1996/97 state budget.

House member Arnold Baramuli, for example, proposed that the
government should slash the number of civil servants by half to
improve efficiency and public service.

The minister acknowledged yesterday that many civil servants
turn to illegal sources of income because of their meager
salaries.

"But whatever their reasons, civil servants are prohibited
from seeking illegal sources of income," he said.

Last week, members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce
(Kadin) blamed the numerous illegal levies imposed on businesses
by bureaucrats for the high-cost economy.

They attributed the notorious corrupt practices in the
bureaucracy on the meager salaries that civil servants receive.

Silalahi said the government has been trying to improve civil
servants' welfare but argued that the salary levels of private
companies are always higher throughout the world.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives will press ahead with
its proposal to have civil servants' salaries increased regularly
by at least the rate of inflation, which currently stands at just
under 10 percent.

House members of the budget commission decided during a
plenary session yesterday that the move is aimed at forcing the
government to put the inflation rate in check.

"It appears that the government is now unable to keep the
inflation rate at a safe level set for the ongoing Sixth Five
Year Plan," commission spokesman Johny Alwi Banyo said.

The regular pay hike aims to help the four million civil
servants, including members of the Armed Forces (ABRI), meet
their minimum needs, he added.

The House and the government have been finalizing the budget
draft for the 1996/97 fiscal year that begins in April. When
presenting the bill on Jan. 4 to the House, President Soeharto
asked the legislative body to decide by how much civil servants'
salaries should be raised.

The increase proposed by legislators from the four factions in
the House ranges from 10 percent proposed by the ruling Golkar
organization to 40 percent by the Indonesian Democratic Party.

Alwi said that if the yearly pay hike is given on a regular
basis, civil servants would not have to worry about the soaring
prices that usually follow the official announcement.

In the long run, civil servants' salary levels should be equal
to private and state-run company employees', he said. (pan)