Local news for local people

I came across this article in the Makassar local paper, Fajar, last weekend, and have only just got round to translating it. Some interesting stuff on what's happening in Jeneponto politics right now - and explains a lot about why stuff doesn't work here.

From Fajar, 19 June 2011

Jeneponto Delays Reception of Civil Servants

Amidst the bustle at BKDD [Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Provincial Training], in which various Kabupaten [districts] prepare to select civil servants for the 2011 intake and organise proposals for central government, Jeneponto apparently alone is quiet. This area has, it seems, not yet proposed the civil service positions required for 2011.

After is was confirmed to the interested parties, Jeneponto apparently blocked selection of 2011 civil service positions. In fact, the postponement of recruitment just mentioned will last for the next 2 years. The most important reason is budgetary. The local government is still investigating the financial capacity of the Kabupaten which is not yet stable, after the total budget deviated from the agreed amount.

In addition to budgetary factors, the total number of civil servants in this area has also been assessed as exceeding the limit set, namely 6592 staff. "If local government employs more civil servants, where are the wages to come from?", said chairman of the local assembly Alamzah Mahadi Kulle. But there are still 3511 people yet to become civil servants since their names were added to the database from 2005 onwards. The 2011 budget for Jeneponto is only IDR355 billion [approximately GBP27m], with the result that it is certainly difficult for the local government budget to cover wages for civil servants that now number 6592. "Almost 87% of Jeneponto's budget is spent on paying civil servants", he added.

Head of the BKDD in Jeneponto, Hasnan Arsyad, says the policy of delaying reception of civil servants in 2011 is based on the outcome of a meeting with the local assembly in May. "Delay of civil service recruitment has already been announced in the official report of the meeting between the local assembly and the Jeneponto government", said Hasnan.

While this is happening, BKDD Bantaeng [neighbouring district] have agreed a proposal for 400 new civil servants, although there were votes in the legislative body to delay recruitment because reception of the 2010 intake is not yet complete.

"We have proposed 400, because in 2010 we had 200 people retire, with the same number in 2009", said head of the Agency, Jumaing Rahing.

Secretary of the Bantaeng assembly, Nirdin Halim, has assessed the increase in civil servants for 2011 to be enough. It is certain the government should focus more on increasing budget for community interests. "If civil servant numbers increase, the local budget must surely be exhausted in wages", said Nurdin.

For the intake of civil servants this year, he has asked for honorer [a type of contract worker without the same status as a full civil servant] only. "The reception of the provious intake of honorer has been completed. The new honorer are already working and busy."

Some key facts/observation from my placement put the above into some context:

• Jeneponto district has a population (2009) of 334 175 people. There is 1 civil servant per 50 head of population. The rate in the UK is 1 public sector worker per 10 population.
• Many civil servants have other jobs.
• Many in my office don't work afternoons. Or mornings. There are many civil servants with no officially allocated tasks.
• Money for projects is scarce, so civil servants spend a lot of time writing proposals to central government and international NGOs.
• Government buildings and facilities are run down, ill equipped and ill suited to their requirements.
• If there is money for equipment, there is little for training, maintenance or running costs. For example, there is an environmental monitoring lab full of new equipment which has never been used since purchase in 2008.

So it seems that the number of public sector workers is 5 times smaller than numbers in Europe - but it's still too big for the money available in Jeneponto. The high wages bill is preventing any of these civil servants operating effectively - my guess is that you'd need to halve the head count to maximise productivity. But that's unthinkable here.