Unproductive civil servants may be laid off

Unproductive civil servants may be laid off

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Administrative Reforms Feisal
Tamin said on Tuesday that the government was carefully
considering a plan to lay off unproductive civil servants.

"Layoffs are possible. But we have to consider it carefully as
on one hand it would require a gigantic budget, and on the other
it might add to the number of unemployed," Feisal said in the
East Java capital of Surabaya, as quoted by Antara, after
chairing a meeting with regents, mayors and high-ranking
officials of the East Java provincial administration.

He said the issue of laying off civil servants was a dilemma
for the government.

"Actually, there would be no need to lay off these civil
servants if they were aware that they are paid by the people and
felt responsible for the enhancement of public services," he
said.

The minister said the idea of laying off civil servants was
first broached by Minister/National Development Planning Board
chairman Kwik Kian Gie.

Kwik reportedly suggested laying off unproductive civil
servants at a recent Cabinet meeting.

"The unproductive civil servants go to the office just to
chitchat. Paying them is a waste of state money, and on their
part it is a waste of opportunity to achieve something when they
while away their time talking," Kwik was quoted as saying.

However, Feisal maintained that the number of civil servants
in Indonesia was not excessive.

"With a population of 23 million, Malaysia has 900,000 civil
servants. Indonesia has four million. So, by number, it is not
excessive," the minister observed.

Feisal said the only problem was that the number of civil
servants in Java was almost four times that of all of eastern
Indonesia.

"So there is a need to achieve proportional distribution.
Civil servants should be ready to work anywhere in the country,"
he said.