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The head of the tax office on Wednesday sought to stress how harassed and upset his staff were in the wake of recent revelations over graft in the office, but his battle will be hard to win if the strength of public feeling revealed in recent days is a guide.

The corruption case involving Gayus Tambunan, a middle-ranking tax official found with Rp 28 billion ($3.1 million) in his bank accounts, is by no means exceptional. But public outrage seems to be boiling over a case that has come to symbolize how hard-working, tax-paying citizens are being cheated, as evidenced by thousands of complaints and tip-offs received by the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force and a general disdain now shown on the street toward tax officials.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday that over 18 days, officials had received 12,294 text messages and 393 letters from the public, most saying they were squarely behind efforts to rid the judiciary and tax system of graft.

Yudhoyono said that Gayus’s case was a watershed in public expression. “The government, as represented by law enforcers, will solve the case and process it according to the law, because it is an extraordinary crime,” he said.

Tax employees are now feeling the heat, both socially and psychologically, according to Mochamad Tjiptardjo, tax director general at the Finance Ministry.

Bus conductors who used to shout “tax, tax” when nearing the tax headquarters now shout “Gayus, Gayus” instead, Tjiptardjo told House Commission XI on finance and banking during a hearing on Wednesday.

“The effect of the Gayus case is severe. A tax office employee who forgot to remove his name tag on public transportation was called a thief,” Tjiptardjo said.

Tax officers interviewed by the Jakarta Globe concurred. Heru Wibowo, a mid-level officer, said, “I feel people treat me differently when they find out I work at the tax office. Although sometimes they do not say it out loud, they see me as if I was Gayus himself,” Heru said.

Faishal Saputra, who joined the tax office a year ago, said the online social networking site Facebook was now crammed with condemnations of tax staff.

“A friend of mine even got verbally abused on his Facebook page, with people calling him a thief,” Faishal said. “When I got my wedding license at the Religious Affairs Office and got a checkup at the public health center, the other public servants there keep grilling me about Gayus.”

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati responded to the Gayus findings by replacing his former director, Bambang Heru Ismiarso, suspending everyone working in his division and announced a sweeping corruption probe at the national tax office.

Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, whose office was also said to be involved in tax-related crimes, vowed to restructure his institution “soon.”

But Andi Rachmat, a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) on Commission XI, said that self-assessment would never work in the ministries. He urged the House to push the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to step in and audit the system at the Finance Ministry.