Fifteen Percent Civil Service Pay Raise Still Pending
Wednesday, 20 August, 2008 | 19:01 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The government’s plan to raise civil servants’ salaries by 15 percent is still under discussion and under calculation so it can benefit all state employees throughout Indonesia equally. “That is why we have not yet determined the general allocation fund (DAU) for each region,” said Finance Department director-general, Mardiasmo, yesterday.


The plan to raise civil servants pay was announced by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his speech last Friday. However, Jakarta governor, Fauzi Bowo, rejected the plan, saying the DAU and the special allocation fund (DAK) for Jakarta were discontinued two years ago. Therefore, this central government-initiated policy will be a burden to regional administrations like Jakarta.


The Jakarta regional administration recently raised its employees’ salary by 20 percent. “That alone caused us problems, let alone another 15 percent rise,” Fauzi said.


If the additional pay raise goes through, Jakarta must allocate a minimum of Rp 500 billion, or a total of Rp 6,7 trillion. This figure reached 30 percent of the total regional budget (APBD) of Rp 20,59 trillion.


Fauzi hopes the central government will reconsider its 15 percent pay increase to civil servants. “We don’t want the employees in Jakarta to feel left out,’ he said.


The House of Representatives’ Commission A chairman, Ahmad Suaidy, shares Fauzi’s opinion. According to him, if the government insists on the pay hike, they must reduce allocations for other sectors. “For instance, we may have to cut 15 percent of the employees’ social security,” he said. “If that happens, it means employees will receive the same amount of salary as they did before,” he added.


According to Mardiasmo, provinces which are high income earners, such as Jakarta, the raise will still be applicable. “But we are still discussing the formula,” he said.

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