Psychology of a person who is used to being underpaid

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): The news about the plan to increase the salaries of members of the executive and legislative bodies was greeted with skepticism and cynicism in my family. My wife simply refuses to believe that this planned salary increase will make our daily life more comfortable.

"This pay increase will just cause prices of daily commodities to soar. It has always been like that in the past. Whenever there is increase in the salary of government officials, prices of daily necessities automatically rise.

"From the price of rice to that of fuel to transportation costs and electricity bills, everything will go up. At the end you find yourself where you were. You will still be receiving a monthly income that barely meets your needs. You will still have to write articles to make both ends meet."

My second daughter reacted to this news in a very sarcastic way. "Where will the government find the money? The government is broke. At this moment Pak Kwik (Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie) has to find US$300 million to rescue the country, and he is facing problems that are nearly insurmountable. You have any idea, Pa, how much money we will need to implement this decision for a pay hike? The government will have to take out a new loan with the IMF, and this will make the country sink deeper in foreign debt."

I was the only person in my family who rejoiced at this news. My first reaction when I heard the news was that of relief. "At very long, long last, I will no longer be underpaid," I said to myself. "But can it really be true that eight years after my retirement I will be paid a salary commensurate to my education and experience? Is it really true that there is an Indonesian government that cares so much about its civil servants?"

As I remember, there has been no single Indonesian administration able to provide adequate remuneration for the services of its employees.

In 1965, if I am not mistaken, when the economic condition of the country was at its lowest, someone suggested to the government that improving the salary of government officials should constitute one of the measures taken to remedy the situation.

To this, according to the story that went around at the time, the late Chairul Saleh, one of the then deputy prime ministers, responded, "Forget about the civil servants. They have always been paid a very low salary. They are accustomed to financial hardships." This statement really hurt me, one who had a very miserable life at the time.

Against this recollection, again I asked myself "Is it really possible that out of the shadows of administrations that have always been neglectful towards government civil servants, suddenly a government emerges that has a genuine concern for the well being of its employees?"

Images flash through my mind, bringing back memories of financial hardships. On the whole it is a bleak picture. I still remember vividly the years of 1963-1965, 1970-1980 and 1986-1991. Several times I was tempted to accept job offers from abroad. At one time, in 1975, I was very close to packing my bags. I completed all the required interviews, filled in all the necessary forms.

My wife agreed with the plan, but still there was something that bothered me, and made me doubt whether I was making the right decision. I went to a political friend, and asked for his opinion.

What I got was not an answer, but an appeal. He said, "Look, Buch, it is your life we are discussing here. You have the right to make any decision you think best for you and your family. But let us look back at what you and I have gone through. We went through many difficult periods in trying to contribute something to the building of this country. We went through the cruel Japanese occupation period. We took part in the physical revolution between 1945-1949.

"We worked together in resisting the rise of an authoritarian regime during the difficult period from 1961-1965. All these experiences make us part of a very important historical process in the making of democracy in our nation. If I understand you well, your feelings toward democracy are as strong as mine.

"Do all these experiences really mean nothing to you? I don't think so. If these same experiences mean a great deal to me, so must they also be to you. Thus, if you want to have a really meaningful life, your place is here. If you work abroad, what you do is just fatten your bank account. There is nothing much else you can do to have a bigger meaning in your life. You are not, and you cannot possibly be, a part of the important processes that go on in an environment that is alien to you. I decided to go home a number of years ago, and give up my comfortable position abroad, because I do not want to live a meaningless life.

"Once again, it is your life. But think of the consequences of your decision. How would you like to be remembered by your children and your grandchildren? A quitter?"

This conversation left a very deep impression on me. From that moment on I have faced all the unpleasant things in my life as a challenge to my commitment toward democracy.

Thus, even though I very much hope that the plan to increase legislators' salaries become a reality, if it fails to materialize, it will not be a disaster to me. Like any normal person I need money, but more than anything else I want to have a meaningful life. And money is not the main and only instrument to achieve this goal.

The writer is a social and cultural observer based in Jakarta.