SBY reaches out through interactive discussions

Adding to his SMS service, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono engaged in interactive discussion with the people on Wednesday morning for the second time via "President on the Radio", which was broadcast live by El Shinta.

Faruq, a civil servant at the Tangerang, Banten, office of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, told the President his take-home pay of Rp 1,256,200 (about US$130) barely covered his needs.

Another caller, Mince, a teacher in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, drew attention to the poor pay of teachers.

A third caller urged Susilo to reduce the unemployment rate by recruiting more civil servants.

In response, Susilo said the government was working on a model for pay rises for civil servants, in which the lowest-level employees would get the biggest pay rises and top-level officials the smallest.

Susilo also promised to do his best to improve economic growth, which would in turn provide more jobs and thus reduce unemployment.

Toward the end of the 30-minute program, Susilo appealed to the public to report government officials or agencies imposing illegal levies directly to him via PO Box 9949, Jakarta 10000.

Specify (in the letter) who the officials are and which agency is responsible, Susilo said.

"This way, together we can bring about clean governance and provide better public services," he said.