Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) says there are 1,466 state civil servants (PNS) who have been proven guilty of corruption but have yet to be dismissed. The state is also suffering financial losses because they are still receiving wages.
According to ICW Coordinator Adnan Topan Husodo, there are also an additional 375 civil servants who have been found to be involved in corruption.
“The consequence is there are 1,466 corrupt PNS who have been convicted and are still [active] PNS, this means that every month the state also suffers financial losses because they still have to pay those who are corrupt”, he said during a discussion titled A Determination to Build an Administration that is Clean and Modern at the Presidential Staff Offices at the Bina Graha building in Central Jakarta on Wednesday March 27.
Husodo said that this shows that administrative sanctions and ethics standards are not being upheld by the related government bodies.
“Now, this means that when we talk about the earlier concept of ethics, the fact is that we have yet to make this a rule, as a model to design an administration, a bureaucracy which is more credible”, he said.
Husodo is urging the government to change the regulations on sanctions for civil servants who have been proven to be corrupt. He believes that at present corruption is still not seen as a risky by civil servants.
“If you really want it to change, if its 10 rupiah or 5 million rupiah, then its corruption, its theft, they must be sacked. There’s no other way. How can it be made easier to sack PNS. So there is a big risk for them”, he said.
Earlier, the State Civil Service Agency (BKN) said that based on data for January 29, there are 1,879 civil servants out of 2,357 who have been caught up in corruption cases and have been found guilty finally and conclusively (BHT) but have not yet been dismissed.
BKN head Bima Haria Wibisana says that the government has incurred huge financial losses because it is still paying the wages of civil servants who should have been dismissed.
“The lowest PNS wage is 1.9 million rupiah [a month], but let’s call it 2.5 million rupiah for 2,000 people, just multiply that with how much per month, how much per year, the number of years vary, the longest is 2011, back in 2010 there are some”, he said at the BKN Surabaya II Regional Office in Sidoarjo on Thursday January 31. (fra/arh)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “ICW Soal 1.466 PNS Korupsi Belum Dipecat: Itu Maling”.]
