Sense and sensitivity

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.