Sense and sensitivity

In facing the current monetary turmoil, the governments of Malaysia and Thailand have cut the salaries of their senior officials as an austerity measure and expression of solidarity with those hardest hit by the economic chaos.

Kuala Lumpur, which has not been affected by the crisis as badly as Thailand and Indonesia, was the first to take the exemplary step by cutting 10 percent off the salaries of its prime minister, his deputy, cabinet ministers and their deputies. Members of parliament salaries' were cut by 3 percent.

It is not yet clear how much Malaysia expects to reduce expenditure through the austerity measure but Thailand, which has cut the salaries of its cabinet and government coalition legislators by 20 percent, expects to save US$1.06 million annually.

The Thai government has also appealed to opposition legislators and all senators to follow suit in order to double the figure.

Many Indonesians who have been suffering severely during the last few months have been wanting to hear a token of sensitivity concerning their hardship from the government. This expectation does not necessarily mean however that the millions of Indonesians who have lost their jobs since the beginning of the financial crisis expect the social solidarity measures taken in these neighboring countries to be copied here.

Indonesians have witnessed a public official offering a sense of unity when the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Army Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, announced recently that he was willing to have his salary reduced by 20 percent. He said: "Government officials should set an example and make a sacrifice to help the country resolve the crisis."

But the government reacted differently. It said it would not cut the salaries of its top officials, including ministers and other senior civil servants, for such a purpose because their salaries were comparatively much lower than their counterparts in neighboring countries.

Many Indonesians were deeply disappointed by the government's reaction because it indicated the authorities may not have fully understood the untold suffering facing many people, most of whom were already experiencing difficulties in keeping their heads above water even when they still had a job.

People here fully understand that the salaries of our civil servants and ministers are much smaller than those in Malaysia and Thailand. But the public deserves at least a small token of a sense of solidarity from the authorities. The expectation is relevant to the often-touted virtue of social solidarity.

However, this is a country of paradox, as is apparent every day. Our officials' comparatively low salaries are not mirrored by their lifestyles. Many of them do not feel awkward about flaunting their affluence. They own elegant houses and expensive cars, and are able to afford to send their children abroad to study and their wives to shop in foreign cities.

The government's refusal to take up the idea of austerity measures shows an equal lack of sensitivity. In the eyes of the public, it is nothing but an absence of a sense of crisis.