'Reregistration aims to improve filing system'

The government began its nationwide reregistration of civil servants last week. Some analysts have called it a screening program, as the minister of home affairs said the program also was aimed at testing the loyalty of civil servants to the unitary state of Indonesia. The Jakarta Post spoke with a number of civil servants to get their views on the controversial Rp 11 billion program.

Ipoeng, 35, is a civil servant with the Supreme Audit Agency. He lives in Bogor, West Java, with his wife and son:

I don't think (the new program) is similar to the screening program under the New Order government years ago. This is simply a sort of reregistration of civil servants nationwide.

It would not be necessary to conduct this program if the government had a good registration system from the beginning. I think this is an attempt to improve the civil servant filing system, which is necessary for the government.

I'm sure the current filing system has not been updated. So I appreciate the development of registering civil servants, despite the fact that its main objectives remain unclear to me.

Well, I view the process positively. In the form sent to me, I am able to list all my achievements, training and other strong points that might be beneficial to me in the future.

It will encourage me to provide all my data to support my future as a civil servant. Before this positive points were never recorded, so the government never appreciated our achievements.

Sumarto, 41, is a civil servant at the Ministry of Forestry. He lives in Depok, West Java, with his wife and two children:

I am of the opinion that the reregistration of civil servants aims to improve our filing system. I have no worries about it as it is not similar to the screening under the New Order.

All civil servants should provide their updated data since their appointments.

I just wonder whether or not the government will issue a new policy following this process. If it aims to screen out civil servants who are allegedly linked with the Free Aceh Movement, the effectiveness will be questionable.

But I would rather view the process here as positive. I guess lots of civil servants are ignorant about their own documents, such as their diplomas, appointment decrees and the like.

The reregistration reminds me of the incomplete documents that are important to my career. So now is the right time for me to collect my missing data, such as the documents for my retirement allowance.

Soetiyanto, 69, is a retired civil servant. He used to work at the land affairs office in Jakarta. He lives in Palmerah, Central Jakarta, with his wife and three children:

I think the reregistration of civil servants will be ineffective, as it resembles the screening process launched during the Soeharto regime.

I cannot understand the main objectives of the program because it is dubious. Besides, it will only be a waste of our energy and state money if it is intended to test the loyalty of civil servants.

There are still many problems the government should address immediately. Why doesn't the government use the money budgeted for the program to provide new job opportunities for people, because the country's unemployment rate continues to increase?

I'm also afraid that the reregistration is susceptible to irregularities. I mean to say that unscrupulous civil servants might use the chance to extend their retirement ages by filing false data.

I say this because I served as the head of administrative affairs at my office for years, overseeing all the officials' data at the time. This kind of dishonesty used to happen in the office.

If the program is meant to test the officials' loyalty to the state and check their involvement in separatism, I think it is too much.