Jakarta Civil Servants May Get a Pay Rise, but Higher Standards Demanded

Lenny Tristia Tambun


The Jakarta administration plans to raise the salary of its civil servants in 2014 in an attempt to boost their performance and encourage them to provide optimum public service.

The administration said it will increase the salary if it generates high regional income (PAD). Officials predicted that the salary hike will be significant and could leave pay higher than in the private sector.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said the administration’s main focus on improving the bureaucracy required not only recruiting new employees and improving human resources but also improving the welfare of civil servants.

“If their welfare is good, they can work without worrying about making ends meet or worrying about their families,” Basuki said on Thursday.

The administration plans to set civil servant salaries at the same rate as employees in the private sector so they can work more professionally.

The move also aims to discourage civil servants from corruption because low pay might make them open to bribery.

To achieve this, the administration will increase the allocation for employee spending in the regional budget as well as try to achieve greater budget efficiency.

Basuki said the size of the salary increase will depend on regional income.

“We haven’t decided it yet. This is still a plan. Let’s just wait for PAD,” he said. “Most importantly we want to make people feel proud that they work here [in the city administration]; as proud as people who work at Citibank or oil companies.

“So the decision on whether or not to raise [their salary] might depend on incentives or an increase of PAD.”

Basuki warned that if, after the salary increase, he finds civil servants not working their hardest, still committing corruption, delivering poor-quality work or otherwise being poor at their jobs, he will punish them in line with the government regulation on civil servant discipline.

“If their welfare has been improved through the high salary hike, they will get a sanction if they can’t balance it with good performance and public service,” Basuki said. Basuki added that recruitment of new workers will be based on the system outlined by the National Civil Service Agency.

Soon after becoming governor in October, Joko Widodo undertook a series of spot checks at civil service offices.

Jakarta Civil Servants May Get a Pay Rise, but Higher Standards Demanded

The Jakarta administration plans to raise the salary of its civil servants in 2014 in an attempt to boost their performance and encourage them to provide optimum public service. Officials predicted that the salary hike will be significant and could leave pay higher than in the private sector. Read all about it in today’s Jakarta Globe.