The minister said the idea was not aimed at forcing civil servants to immediately enter retirement because the government still had the right to extend their service if their services were still needed.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said a proposal to enable civil servants to be pensioned early was intended to improve the corps` productivity.

The minister made the statement here on Thursday to elaborate on the proposal he had made recently.

"This is not only about cost cutting but it is more about increasing the productivity of civil servants. So, the idea is to employ fewer people for the same task," he said.

The minister said if his proposal was approved it could begin to be implemented at his ministry.

"Our study is actually focused on finance ministry employees. We want to encourage them to apply for early retirement," he said.

The minister said the idea was not aimed at forcing civil servants to immediately enter retirement because the government still had the right to extend their service if their services were still needed.

"Of course, the option is in the hands of the government. If the employee concerned wishes to retire early but his/her services are still needed we will of course retain him/her. If we have no objections to his/her retiring early, we will support him/her in doing so," he said.

The minister also offered employees who would voluntarily go into early retirement assistance to be reemployed by regional governments to help manage the collection of regional taxes such property and land tax.

"Many regions still lack qualified human resources to manage tax collection. We have talked about the possibility for finance ministry employees to be moved to the regions," he said.

Deputy Finance Minister Anny Ratnawati meanwhile said that the early retirement program offered by the government would be done based upon performance standards.

She said if an employee did not show improvement in his/her performance after training the government then would offer him/her to take early retirement.

Anni said the number of civil servants which is now recorded at 4.7 millions takes a lot of state budget which in fact could be used for infrastructure development.

"It is not only about their salaries but also pensions, retirement benefits and others. That discussions on the program have to be started now as an alternative for preventing budget expansion I think all would agree because we need bigger budget for infrastructure development," she said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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