Officials must choose city or military by August

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the military or the police who hold posts in the city administration should choose by August at the latest whether to become civil servants or return to their units, city spokesman Muhayat said.

"Governor Sutiyoso has asked them to decide soon whether to stay here or return to their respective units," Muhayat told reporters Friday.

Muhayat said the program to give such officials the two options started in 1999 amid public pressure concerning the presence of military/police officers in civilian institutions.

He said that among the 169 officers from military/police at that time, 49 had already made their choices. Some had decided to return to their units while some others had preferred to stay on as civil servants in the city administration and, accordingly, resigned from the military/police.

Sutiyoso, who was a former Jakarta Military Commander, decided to retire from the military with the rank of lieutenant general.

But many are of the opinion that due to decreasing public pressure regarding the presence of the military/police officers, there has been little progress made to date as there are still 120 officials from the military/police seconded to the city administration.

A total of 28 officials -- 20 of them from military -- met the governor at City Hall on Friday to report that they were now approaching pensionable age, that is 56 years old or over.

Officials are required to report to the governor four years before they reach the mandatory retirement age, which is 60 years old.

Among the officials from the military/police are chief of the City Land Transportation Agency Buyung Atang, chief of the Jakarta Fire Department Suharso, chief of the City's Social and Political Agency Dodi Soedarno and chief of the City's Public Order Office Hadi Utomo. All four officials are colonels.

The four officials, who are ranked as echelon II officers, receive monthly honorariums of Rp 600,000 (US$54) with allowances of Rp 300,000 each from the city administration, in addition to their monthly salaries from the military.

According to the regulations, echelon I and II officials should retire at 60 years of age but their tenure may be extended for another five years if their services are still needed.

Several factions on the City Council had earlier urged the Governor not to extend the tenure of some officials who had reached pensionable age.

Besides renewing the bureaucracy, the factions said, the officials concerned were involved in corruption scandals, including controversial overseas trips which were financed by PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol.

They said in their response to Sutiyoso's accountability statement that at least two city agency chiefs who had reached retirement age were involved in the scandal.

Several city officials and 16 councillors participated in trips to Japan, South Africa and Australia in October last year.

Besides receiving travel allowances from PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol of between $5,000 and $10,000 each, the trip participants also received Rp 52 million each in allowances from the 2000 city budget. (jun)