Worker's pay

I have just come back from Brebes, Central Java. There I witnessed a lot of people who were working in the framework of intensive labor program being given salaries ranging from Rp 2,500 to Rp 3,000. What surprised me was that about 50 percent of the workers were fictitious. I was told that the World Bank provides Rp 12,000 for each worker per day.

Imagine, a worker has to make do with Rp 3,000 a day in the time of our current monetary crisis. If the information is correct, the person in charge of paying the workers' salaries must be severely dealt with. To stop this unfair practice, the authorities should officially announce in the media the pay set by the World Bank.

BOB S. EFFENDI

Jakarta