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Cutting costs by doing it on the cheap
âEnjoying flying economy class like in my youth [
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'Enjoying flying economy class like in my youth [...] An incentive to stay slim to fit into the seat :-),' Bank Mandiri president director Budi Gunadi Sadikin posted on his Twitter account Friday.
The boss of the country's largest bank posted a picture of a Garuda Indonesia economy meal with his economy class ticket for the GA 404 flight from Jakarta to Denpasar, Bali, on his Twitter account @BudiGSadikin.
State-owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno is another official who recently took an economy class flight.
Spotting a top-ranking public official in economy class on a flight in this country is rare, especially when the country was under president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. A ministerial regulation issued by then finance minister Chatib Basri, allowed echelon III officials, including heads of ministerial units, to use business-class flights for overseas trips of no longer than eight hours.
Garuda is the first choice for government officials and any changes to the government's business class policy will affect the airline's revenue.
However, the situation has drastically changed since President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo set his own example last week. Despite the pros and cons, accompanied by only seven security detail officers, Jokowi and First Lady Iriana took an economy-class flight to Singapore to attend the graduation of their youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep.
Jokowi has continued to live modestly for years, including when he was the mayor of Surakarta and the governor of Jakarta. While during Yudhoyono's 10-year rule government officials followed his fondness for wearing formal suits, Jokowi has completely changed the scene with his own dress code.
To follow up on the President's instruction, Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Yuddy Chrisnandi recently issued three circulars banning government officials from lavish lifestyles and instructing them to make numerous savings from small things that people often forget, including the use of electricity and air conditioning.
In his latest circular titled 'Decent Lifestyle Movement', issued on Nov. 20, Yuddy banned all central and local government officials from throwing lavish parties or partaking in other wasteful spending in order to 'show empathy for the people'.
Yuddy also set a limit on the number of invitations issued for occasions like wedding receptions, celebrations and other similar events, to 400 invitations, or no more than 1,000 participants, as of January next year.
Just recently, Yuddy issued another circular, dated Nov. 17, ordering all government bodies to use their own meeting rooms and banning them from renting meeting halls or other venues, including resorts and villas. This will come into effect on Nov. 30. Meeting halls may be rented only if the government venues cannot accommodate all the meeting participants.
In another circular dated Nov. 4, the ministry ordered all government agencies to save electricity and restrict the use of air conditioning, telephones, water, office stationery and official cars.
The minister even urged them to serve traditional Indonesian street foods, for example, steamed peanuts and fried cassava, as well as local fruit, during official functions and meetings 'to boost the production of national commodities and to ensure food security'. Such traditional food would also be served at official state dinners.
'Nowadays, there many people suffering from high cholesterol, high blood pressure and strokes due to their diet and high sugar and fat intake,' he said. 'So, it's better to provide healthy foods.'
