Salary rise welcomed with skepticism

Salary rise welcomed with skepticism

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators welcome the government's plan to
increase the salary of civil servants and members of the Armed
Forces (ABRI) but doubt if it would significantly improve their
well-being.

But members of the House of Representatives hoped that the
salary rise would encourage civil servants and ABRI members to
improve their services.

The salary rise was announced by President Soeharto yesterday
when presenting the 1995/96 state budget plan to the House, in
which he said that limited state financial resources made the
government raise the salaries modestly.

"The government has decided to raise the salary of civil
servants, members of the Armed Forces, pensioned civil servants
and retired soldiers and their widows by 10 percent," he said,
followed by a thunderous applause -- the only time it was heard
throughout his speech.

The increase, Soeharto said, would be carried out in two
stages: the salary rise of civil servants of Class I and II (the
lowest echelons) will come into effect as of this month and those
of Classes III and IV as of April.

The last time civil servants saw their salaries go up was in
1993, when the salaries of lower echelons went up by 18 percent
and higher echelons by 12 percent.

"We have to thank the government for their initiative, even if
the raise is only 10 percent," said Oka Mahendra from House
Commission II overseeing home affairs.

Although Oka was convinced the increase could help minimize
corruption and illegal fees, he pointed out that the government
has yet to improve aspects other than salary, such as improving
supervision, to make a significant change in the level of their
productivity.

Soerjadi, the deputy House Speaker in charge of economic
matters, said the planned salary rise would mean "very little" to
the improvement of civil servants' and ABRI members' well-being,
since inflation was already as high as 9.24 percent this year.

He hoped that the pay rise would help materialize a clean and
respectable government that the people yearn for.

"But it's public secret that corrupt officials are usually
those with a senior position, not lower-ranking bureaucrats who
have no chance to embezzle state money," he said.

Inflation

Bambang Warih Kusuma from the budget commission said the
increase was only made to conform with the level of inflation.

He pointed out that it would be more effective to transfer
part of civil servants to the private sector. "By cutting down
the number of civil servants and transferring them to private
companies, they could work twice as effectively as they do now,"
he added.

Chairman of the House's United Development Party (PPP) faction
Hamzah Haz said the rise "would at least maintain the purchasing
power of civil servants" and be a positive boost to the business
sector. "They certainly won't be saving all their earnings," he
said.

Aisyah Aminy, chairperson of House Commission I overseeing
information, diplomacy and security, also voiced similar
skepticism about the actual value of the salary rise.

"What does 10 percent mean if inflation is already nine
percent?" asked the legislator from the Moslem-oriented PPP.

Outspoken legislator Aberson Marle Sihaloho from the budget
commission, said that the government should be more serious about
improving civil servants' welfare if it was serious about
creating a clean and respectable government.

He said, what had often been heard from the government was its
calls for austerity measures to save state money to keep
development programs going. "It's just lip service," said the
House member from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

Economist Hadi Soesastro, from the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, on one hand welcomed the salary increase,
while on the other hand was uncertain about its capability to
minimize corruption, encourage productivity and increase
efficiency.

"I'm afraid the connection between salary and quality of work
from our civil servants is not that straight forward," he said.

He considered that the number of bureaucrats and their role in
the economy was still too large and therefore continually became
a burden to the state budget.(rid/hdj/pwn/pan)