Researchers complain over meager monthly honorarium
JAKARTA (JP): Science and technology researchers have complained about how small is the honorarium paid to them, currently Rp 97,000 (US$10) per researcher per month, saying this is "far behind the profession's expectations and the respect that should be accorded to it."
"The honorarium was actually raised by Rp 10,000 from the previous Rp 87,000 last year but still it is far from enough," chief of the planning bureau of the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) Marzan Azis Iskandar said.
Marzan was speaking to media on Tuesday over the inadequate honorarium for researchers in the country, which has contributed to slow improvement in the country's research capability.
Currently there are some 2,000 researchers working in BPPT, he said.
"And those honoraria apply to nationwide researchers in science and technology, such as those working for LIPI or BATAN..
"There is no specific payroll based on the level of education as the minimum requirement (to become a researcher) is an S1 degree. So all of us, from graduate to post-graduate, receive a similar fee," Marzan explained.
Besides the honorarium, researchers working as civil servants are currently entitled to a salary according to their echelon/grade which is between Rp 300,000 and Rp 800,000 per month and allowances which vary from Rp 400,000 to Rp 800,000 per month.
Small state budgets for research and study also limit the research work, he said.
"For instance, a researcher proposed a Rp 300 million study, but in the end he got around Rp 50 million at the most.
"The study was eventually scaled down to a small research project which actually had far less scope than the original proposal," he said.
Arduous bureaucracy in running a research project also contributes to slow outcomes and in many cases the results of a study have already become outdated by the time they are published, Marzan said.
"We do not have enough resources and facilities to support proper, usable research. That is also why much of the work done by local researchers seemed to have duplicated that of foreign studies," he said.
"Actually our researchers are able to find solutions for traffic congestion, but again there is not enough money to do it," he said.
Marzan further called for the establishment of a management approach for research, which must be different from other private/business management.
"Without proper management people will not realize how to use the results of research and at the same time the researchers won't be able to market or distribute their work."
In Indonesia respect and reward for researchers are still very small and there is no establishment of a proper scientific journal that can publicize technological and scientific inventions, he said.
In a bid to make the public more aware about technological results and studies, BPPT is planning to hold the first seminar about the country's technology in April, he added.
In the year 2000 BPPT received a total of Rp 48.63 billion for its main and supporting projects.
This year the total BPPT project budget is Rp 69.83 billion; 60 percent of which goes to core competency projects while 22 percent is allocated to top national projects, 10 percent for research in developing the economy in rural areas and the remaining eight percent for supporting projects. (edt)