`TVRI' to lay off half its staff in Semarang
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang
State television station TVRI says it will be forced to shed about half its 315 employees in the Central Java capital of Semarang as it had been overstaffed for too long and was nearly broke.
TVRI head in Semarang, Effendi Anwar, said Wednesday that many of its staff were "just lazy". "They may be smart and capable but what's the use if they are lazy."
He said that many of the employees were sent from other TVRI stations in Java, and that Semarang needed only 150 employees.
"Semarang's TVRI must accommodate employees with low skills from stations in Medan, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Bandung," he said.
No date had been set for the layoffs. Effendi said he was waiting for guidance from TVRI's head office in Jakarta.
The layoff plan follows the government's decision late last year to cease funding TVRI operations across the country.
Effendi said the government cut its funding to Semarang last February. "We still haven't paid for our electricity and diesel since January. The bill amounts to some Rp 250 million (about US$28,000)."
He said TVRI's monthly operational costs in Semarang amounted to about Rp 200 million. If the situation continued until July, TVRI might have to cease broadcasting in Semarang, he warned.
Employees had not been paid their daily food allowances to save TVRI Rp 37 million a month, he added.
He hoped the Central Java government would pay the Rp 200 million it had earlier promised to keep the station afloat in Semarang.
The financial difficulties are shared by other TVRI stations across the country after the government cut funding in February.
TVRI in Medan ceased operations last month, but was able to resume only after the North Sumatra government injected Rp 1.15 billion into the station.
In April 2002, the government decided to convert TVRI from a social service corporation to a limited liability company.
Consequently, TVRI no longer receives funding from the state budget. The conversion has yet to be completed but the government has already began to slash funding since last February.