Officials' pay hike
Officials' pay hike
From Media Indonesia
In connection with the plan to increase the salaries of government officials of the Republic of Indonesia by an average of 200 percent to 300 percent, I herewith express my disapproval and would like to suggest the following:
1. The salary of the President and the Vice President need not be raised because pursuant to Law No. 7/1978, all their needs are provided for and borne by the government. Besides, the law stipulates that the salary of the President is six times higher than that of a high-ranking official, while the Vice President's salary is four times higher than that of a high-ranking official.
2. The salary of the chairman of a state's highest/high institution, a minister, deputy chairman of a state's highest/high institution may be raised by a maximum of 50 percent because they have been provided with a house and car and their telephone, electricity and water bills are borne by the government.
3. The salary of a member of a state's high institution may be raised by a maximum of 100 percent.
4. As for civil servants, except those of echelon I, their salaries may be raised in accordance with the government's plan.
Although the rupiah's purchasing power and value have dropped by 200 percent compared with the condition prior to the onset of the monetary crisis, an excessive rise in the salaries of state officials, particularly in the case of the President and the Vice President, is not proper at this time.
We all know that owing to the crisis, the prices of commodities have risen by 100 percent to 200 percent while most community members, including major businesspeople and professionals have undergone a drop of between 30 percent and 60 percent in their income.
Please do not compare the salaries of state high-ranking officials with those of executive officers in state enterprises and private companies because these executive officers must generate money.
Anywhere under the sun, the position of a state high-ranking official is always an honor/mandate. Therefore, U.S. vice president George Bush was willing to abandon his job as an executive officer in a particular company with a salary of US$1 million a year in order to take up the position of the vice president with a salary of not more than $150,000 a year.
It must be added that the facilities that a chief executive officer (CEO) receives are not worse than those that a president enjoys, such as a special aircraft, an bullet-proof automobile, a house and other benefits. The only difference is that anywhere in the world the respect that the community pays to the most successful CEO will not be as great as the respect that they accord to a good head of state/head of government.
A number of former U.S. ministers were willing to abandon their executive positions in large companies with salaries of up to $2 million a year just to take up a ministerial post, from which they earned only $60,000 a year.
Therefore, it is proper that state officials also experience the lower living standard of the majority of Indonesians. Finally, if corruption is given as the pretext for the salary hike, we must be aware that many government officials during the Old Order period and at the beginning of the New Order era were not involved in corruption despite their meager salaries.
HM RIDHWAN INDRA RA
Bekasi, West Java