Senior officials need salary hikes: SBY
Senior officials need salary hikes: SBY
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono proposed on Tuesday the
restructuring of the remuneration system for senior public
servants and officials in a bid to even out salary differences
and help reduce the temptation to become involved in corruption.
Speaking during a visit to the Supreme Court, the President
said that he now believed the salaries of state officials needed
restructuring after learning that many officials received much
lower salaries than others of the same grade.
"I discovered that Bagir's salary is much lower than other
state officials of equivalent rank. So, we'll try to rearrange
the remuneration in line with responsibilities and workloads," he
said, referring to Chief Justice Bagir Manan.
Also present during the visit were Corruption Eradication
Commission Director Taufiequrrahman Ruki, Minister of Finance Sri
Mulyani Indrawati, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh, Minister
of Religious Affairs Maftuh Basyuni, and National Police chief
Gen. Sutanto.
The President said he had spoken with the Vice President and
finance minister about how best to provide for better salaries.
He added, however, that new salary arrangements for senior
public servants would be considered after improvements had been
made to the salaries of lower-ranking civil servants.
"We'll consider the higher salaries later. What's important
now is to improve the incomes of teachers, lower-ranking public
servants, farmers and fishermen while we review the public
service salary structure," said Susilo.
The public service remuneration system had to be fair to all
civil servants in order to improve their performances.
Recent proposals to raise the salaries of senior state
officials have been condemned given current budgetary constraints
and the lack of money for improvements in the education and
health sectors.
It has been reported that the President and Vice President
will both receive 5 percent increases in 2006, bringing their
respective total monthly salaries to approximately Rp 62 million
(US$6,326) and Rp 57 million.
A 15 percent increase in the salaries of members of the House
of Representatives and Regional Representatives Council was
recently approved, bringing their monthly incomes to between Rp
45 million and Rp 50 million.
While it was not clear how much Chief Justice Bagir Manan
gets, the President said it was less than legislators. The
President added that ministers also received less than
legislators.
The President's comments came hard on the heals of a proposal
from the board of governors of Bank Indonesia (BI) that would
increase the salary of the BI governor to Rp 141.32 million per
month.
In the proposal, each of them would also be entitled to receive over Rp
1.4 billion to finance 10 foreign visits a year, comprising a
total of Rp 384 million in rank allowances, Rp 672 million in per
diem allowances and Rp 350 million for tickets.
House members deliberating the proposal questioned on Tuesday
the effectiveness of such visits, in addition to BI's poor record
at handling the country's monetary situation.
Proponents of salary hikes for senior public servants argue
that they are crucial to curbing rampant corruption. But critics
say that such hikes would do little to stop unscrupulous civil
servants looting the treasury.