HOUSE TO REVIEW REMUNERATION FOR STATE INSTITUTIONS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 2 (ANTARA) - The disclosures of a Rp25 billion tax evasion case involving a tax official at the directorate general of taxation have led the House of Representatives (DPR) to ponder reviewing the remunerations the government is giving state institutions / agencies to increase their efficiency and to eliminate corruption.          "If lawmakers find that the remunerations provided for the Finance Ministry fail to abolish corrupt practices, they will propose the scrapping of the remuneration policy," Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said.          The Finance Ministry has been used as a place for the implementation of a remuneration pilot project in an effort to increase efficiency in government agencies. To implement the policy, the House had approved a significant budget increase to raise payments for officials in order to prevent them from committing corruption.          Under the initial plan, the House had approved remunerations for the finance ministry for the 2004-2009 period, and if it proved  successful the policy would also be implemented at other  ministries and government institutions/agencies.          For this scheme, the government provided a budget of about Rp4.176 trillion per annum for the finance ministry.          "The idea is that with remunerations or bonuses, officials would work more efficiently and  not take bribes or corrupt state money," Priyo Santoso said. However, the disclosures of case broker Gayus Tambunan, who is an official of the ministry which had served as a pilot project for the implementation of the remuneration system, had led the House to think of reviewing the policy.          "I appeal to the House leadership to see whether the government's proposal that remunerations are able to eliminate corruption is really effective or not. If not, we will ask the leadership to review it or its possible revocation," Priyo Budi Santoso of the Golkar Party said.          Lawmaker Tjahjo Kumolo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) concurred with Priyo, saying that the remunerations at the finance ministry should be reviewed because it had not led to the desired results.         "At first, I thought the remuneration program at the finance ministry which was used as a place for a pilot project was running well and successful," Tjahjo Kumolo said on Thursday.         But with the disclosures of the suspicious funds amounting to Rp25 billion in  Gayus Tambunan's bank account have ashed the hope that remunerations could eliminate the culture of corruption.         Therefore, another PDIP legislator,  Effendi Simbolon, called for an immediate review of the remuneration policy. "The Gayus case proves that remunerations are useless and ineffective. After all, it is discriminatory in nature as other civil servants in other ministries do not receive remunerations," Effendi Simbolon said.          According to former vice president Jusuf Kalla, the provision of remunerations cannot prevent corrupt officials from committing corruption. "It turns out that improving salaries is not enough. Applying strict  rules of discipline and administrative order is also needed. Remuneration alone is not enough," Kalla said.          Besides, the government should also improve internal control to strengthen supervision and prevent corruption, he said. "It seems that it is not a big salary that counts. A corrupt official with a salary of Rp10 million will spend Rp50 million. To cover the balance of Rp40 million, he or she will do that (corruption)," he said.          Kalla made the remarks in response to a Rp25 billion tax evasion case involving taxman Gayus Tambunan of the directorate general of taxation who is now being questioned by  police investigators.          He said that such an official should be punished. "He and those involved should be punished and their superiors should be responsible and should introspect," Kalla said.          However, he said, an institution leader whose subordinates make a mistake should not necessarily resign. "If all superiors resign each time their subordinates make a mistake, this republic will run out of leaders," he said.          But the chief of the government's task force charged with eradicating judicial mafia said the finance ministry's remuneration policy was right despite the recent discovery of a tax scandal.          "The remuneration concept is right. It (the tax scandal) is just an isolated case," Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the chief of the task force, said. He said that what Gayus Tambunan had committed namely embezzling tax payments was merely a bad luck.          "It is only a bad luck which had to be dealt with. It did not mean to show that reform efforts and remuneration system has not worked well and correctly," Kuntoro said.          Therefore, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro hoped that the House would not link remunerations with the Gayus case.          Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the House should not link remunerations for government institutions, including the military, with the tax evasion case involving  Gayus Tambunan.          "One should not link the two things. It should not happen that one case in a government institution would then affect the remuneration policies in other institutions, including the TNI and National Police (Polri)," he said on Friday.          The minister said that he held an internal meeting with the House of Representatives on the possible review of the remuneration policies following the disclosures of a Rp28 billion tax evasion case by tax official Gayus Tambunan.           After all, the Defense Ministry is now in the process of implementing a remuneration policy, including for the TNI in order to improve its performance and efficiency as well as the welfare of military personnel.          We are in the process of implementing a bureaucratic reform in the defense ministry, including remuneration for TNI personnel, while keeping abreast of the developments in the DPR and in the handling of the Gayus case," Yusgiantoro said.     (T.A014/A/HAJM/20:00/H-YH) 02-04-2010 20:16