City administration wants more civil servants despite freeze

The Jakarta administration is planning to recruit 3,010 new civil servants despite a recent decision by the central government to freeze the hiring of government employees from Sept. 1.

City Employment Agency head Budhiastuti said on Thursday that the administration would only hire workers for essential services.

“These include teachers, doctors, nurses and civil registration and tax officials,” she told reporters.

Budhiastuti said the proposal for the recruitment had been sent to the Home Ministry last month. The agency plans to send another proposal to the Administrative Reforms Ministry.

The ministry has said that in spite of the freeze on hiring new government employees, an exception could be made for non-tenured staff in education and health care services, including teachers, lecturers, doctors and nurses.

“If the proposal is approved by the Administrative Reforms Ministry, we will announce the vacancies online,” Budhiastuti said.

The Finance Ministry, the Home Ministry and the Administrative Reforms Ministry have agreed to temporarily halt the recruitment of civil servants in efforts to improve budget efficiency while reducing high costs in the midst of massive bureaucratic reform programs.

The moratorium came into effect on Sept. 1, and is expected to remain in place until Dec. 31, 2012.

Once the moratorium ends, the government plans to review civil servant recruitment at both central and regional government levels.

Civil servant ranks continue to swell, reaching 4.6 million by the end of last year, or almost 2 percent of the total Indonesian population of 237 million. The figures have steadily risen in recent years. The number of civil servants was 4.52 million in 2009, 4.08 million in 2008, 4.07 million in 2007 and 3.72 million in 2006.

Government spending for salaries reaches Rp 215.7 trillion (US$25.24 billion) in the 2012 draft state budget, or 15 percent of overall state expenditure and an 18 percent increase from the 2011 budget, as the government plans to increase civil servants’ salaries by 10 percent next year.

Catur Laswanto, the head of the City Organization and Execution Bureau, said that candidates for the jobs offered would have to go through training and a two-year probation period.

“During the probation, we will monitor and evaluate their performance. Only those who are really qualified will be allowed to enter the final training period before they get a tenure,” Catur said.

Currently, the city administration has on its payroll 13,328 civil servant candidates on probation.

Last year, a total of 4,590 people went through to the final training phase. As of October this year, 8,180 people have entered the final period.

The administration currently employs 22,000 civil servant candidates without tenure.

Currently, the city administration employs a total of 80,324 civil servants.

In July, Governor Fauzi Bowo promised that he would increase the annual bonus given to city employees and improve their health care benefits.

Insufficient benefits have forced many civil servants to look for side jobs to pay their medical bills, Fauzi said.

Earlier this year, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Ombudsman’s Office gave the administration a low ranking on the quality of administrative services and bad grades on public services.