Workers abuse extended holiday

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As many as 445 civil servants of the Jakarta administration face various penalties including salary cuts over their absence on Monday -- the first day of work after a nine-day holiday to celebrate Idul Fitri.

The employees were found absent when officials from the City Audit Agency held unannounced inspections at 67 agencies employing 12,677 people.

Actually most employees or over 11,000 showed up for work but the government had warned earlier that the long holiday would be accompanied by stiff penalties for violators.

"The figure does not include staff members who work for the five municipalities and the Kepulauan Seribu district," the head of the City Audit Agency Firman Hutajulu said on Tuesday.

City Hall spokesman Muhayat revealed that the total number of civil servants employed by the city administration reached around 92,000.

According to Firman, his agency is still waiting for the result of inspections conducted by audit offices in five municipalities and the Kepulauan Seribu district.

State Minister for Administrative Reforms Feisal Tamin said on Monday that the civil servants who were absent on Monday without a strong reason would face penalties ranging from warnings to salary cuts.

Firman, however, said that for the administration's employees, the punishment could also include the cutting of their welfare allowance which is Rp 15,000 per day or some Rp 300,000 per month apart from a delay in promotion.

"It is depends on how long the employees are absent," he added.

The civil servants effectively had nine days off including the one-week official holiday. The unprecedented long holidays are part of government efforts to prevent people extending their holidays without leave, a decision already criticized for being ineffective in the light of employee discipline and productivity.

The number of employees who were absent on Monday reached 1,313 or 10.35 percent of the total employees: 445 were absent without reason, 303 were on leave, 106 were absent with permission, and 106 were on sick leave. Also, 164 employees were attending training programs, and 189 were on assignment outside their office.