Many civil servants still on leave as public services resume

Erwida Maulia and Tifa Asrianti ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 10/07/2008 10:01 AM  |  Headlines

Public services should have resumed on Monday after the week-long Idul Fitri holidays, but many civil servants, as in previous years, opted to extend their leave.

In an unannounced visit to the customs and excise office at Tanjung Priok Port, North Jakarta, State Minister for Administrative Reforms Taufiq Effendi found 40 percent of 1,000 officials not back at work, Antara reported.

The ministry conducted inspections at 25 different state institutions in Jakarta on Monday morning, including the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, the Investment Coordinating Board and the Supreme Audit Agency.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Prijanto found 1,091 absent officials out of 9,833 civil servants at 74 working units checked. Most of those absent had extended their leave, while others were ill or on duty outside Jakarta.

The city administration has a total 722 working units. Last year, 5 percent or 1,519 of its 29,591 officials were absent on the first working day after the Idul Fitri holidays, a slight decrease from the 1,600 officials in 2006.

In Bandung, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan confirmed 10 percent of 1,350 civil servants at his office were absent, most of whom were still on leave. Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada added more than 10 percent of municipality officials were absent.

Similar inspections were conducted throughout the country, including in Bogor and Sukabumi in West Java, Surakarta in Central Java, Pasuruan in East Java, Manado in North Sulawesi, and Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, with absentee rates of between 1 and 10 percent, Antara reported.

Ramli E. Naibaho, deputy head of human resources at the State Ministry for Administrative Reforms, told The Jakarta Post that extending leave after the Idul Fitri holidays was actually not allowed, except in "urgent" situations.

He said the joint leave policy was intended to prevent the prolonged absence of civil servants after the holidays, adding if they continued to extend their leave, it was possible the government would "evaluate" the policy.

In 2007, 5 percent of Indonesia's 4.06 million civil servants were absent on the first working day after the Idul Fitri holidays, an improvement on the 8 percent in 2006.

Andrinof Chaniago, University of Indonesia public services policies observer, blamed the officials' chronic absence on the government's "lenient sanctions" and "inconsistency in imposing the sanctions".

Regulations stipulate that civil servants absent without official leave will only face verbal or written sanctions. And only after repeated violations do they face a delay in promotion or a salary cut.

Andrinof said violators should be given "social sanctions", such as displaying their names on announcement boards at their respective offices.

Yuli Tri Suwarni contributed to the report from Bandung.

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