PRESIDENT NEEDS SALARY RAISE?

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Jan 27 (ANTARA) - Since last week the media and the public have been involved in a debate of whether or not the president's salary needs to be raised.          Although it is said that it was twisted, as argued by Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's statement about his salary last week has immediately sparked public debates.          The president made the statement at the closing of a leadership meeting of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI)/Indonesian National Police (Polri) on Friday last week.          "It has been twisted. What the president meant (by mentioning that his own salary has not yet been raised in the last seven years) is to stress that the government is serious in paying attention to the welfare of soldiers, police personnel and civil servants," Presidential Spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said.          He said that by no means the statement was intended to increase the president's salary but to suggest that the government was serious in improving the welfare of TNI, Polri personnel and civil servants.          President Yudhoyono on Friday last week promised the leaders of the  TNI and Polri that he would see to their welfare by raising their salaries, while saying he himself had not had a raise in seven years.          The government, the president said, was committed to raising the salary of TNI and National Police officers every year. The commitment is aimed at motivating the TNI and police to perform their duties better.          "This is the sixth or seventh year that my salary has not been raised," Yudhoyono said last January 21 to TNI and police leaders, who laughed in response.          The president's statement soon sparked media reports and public debates that the head of state had been complaining of his salary.          Yet, amid the debates, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo appeared all of sudden to express his opinion that it was quite possible to raise the president's salary and remuneration in 2011. Of course, the minister's remarks could just again be taken by the public as something justifying what the president has earlier stated.          The minister said that by raising the president's salary and remuneration it would give a chance to about 8,000 state officials to have their salaries and remunerations raised too.          "If the president's salary is not raised it will pose difficulties for state officials to adjust their salaries," the minister said.          The president now receives a monthly salary of Rp62,497,800 plus a monthly operational fund of Rp2 billion.          The finance minister said that adjustment needed to be carried out particularly to the salaries of state officials in the regions such as governors, district heads and their ranks and files.          "There are district court chiefs whose salaries are quite low in the regions. If their salaries had to be raised, it should be done by conducting a preview of the president's salary," the minister said.          But the question of whether or not the president's salary needed to be increased  has raised pro-and-con reactions.          Former vice president Jusuf Kalla said he supported the increase of the president's salary. He said that raising the president salary was something normal owing to the fact that the president had great responsibility and daily need as the head of state.          "This is a matter of comparison. Salary is always linked with the conditions the need and relatively big responsibility of a public official," Kalla, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), said on Thursday.          He said that actually, the House of Representatives had since 2006 approved the increase in the president's salary to about Rp100 million. But at that time, Yudhoyono rejected it with a certain reason.          Kalla said he supported the proposal to raise the president's salary because the amount of salary the president was receiving now was relatively smaller than the salaries of the House of Representatives (DPR) members.          "I support the increase in the president's salary," Kalla said.          Political scientist Indria Samego of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) shared Kalla's opinion.  He said that public officials need to have their salaries raised in order to prevent them from earning money by abusing their power.          "It is not only the president that needs to have his salary increased. The salaries of all policy makers also need to be increased. It is funny that the president's salary is smaller than that of the president director of state oil company Pertamina," Indria Samego said.          However, economist Dr Syafrizal Chan of the Bung Hatta University in West Sumatra said now was not the correct momentum to raise the salaries considering the nation's present condition where the people were facing various problems.          "If the salaries of state officials, from the president until the district heads, whose number reaches 8,000 persons, it would deplete and become burden for the state budget," Syafrizal Chan said.          He said that the salaries of state officials now were already big so that if they were raised it would create a wider economic gap within the society.          Political communications observer Sumartono of the Padang-based University of Eka Sakti (Unes) also shared Chan's opinion, saying that it was not urgent to increase the salaries of state officials.          "Raising salaries for sate officials is not something urgent to be carried out now,"  Sumartono said.     (T.A014/A/HAJM/20:31/H-YH) 27-01-2011 20:43