Minister suddenly fires nine staff

JAKARTA: Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah fired four of his advisors and five expert staff on Thursday without any notice.

The four advisors include Usman Paloh -- the brother of Surya Paloh, a presidential candidate for the 2004 general election and the owner of MetroTV and the Media Indonesia daily newspaper.

The other dismissed advisors were Kemal Rumawi, Syaiful Masykur and Masrur Jafas. Sigit Hariowibisono was the only advisor to retain his job.

The dismissal letter, issued by the minister, said that though the national development policy was going well, the dismissals were to avoid overlapping roles.

The terminated advisors all said they had no prior notice of their dismissals, saying they received the letters on Thursday. --Antara