Sorry, no lunch money: Silalahi

Sorry, no lunch money: Silalahi

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Administrative Reform T.B.
Silalahi has ruled out the possibility of providing meal
allowances for civil servants now that their daily working hours
will soon be extended.

"It's not feasible at the moment because of budget
constraints," Silalahi was quoted by the Antara news agency as
saying yesterday.

The government is currently considering making civil servants
work five days a week instead of the present six, but will extend
the working hours of the five days.

Members of the House of Representatives, while welcoming the
plan which will be introduced nationwide in August next year,
proposed that the government provide civil servants with meal
allowances such as many workers in the private sector receive.

Silalahi said that there are now over four million people on
the government payroll and a Rp 2,000 a day meal allowance would
mean the government would have to hand out Rp 8 billion a day.

"This means trillions of rupiah a year and that is simply not
feasible," he said. (emb)