TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The absence of several civil servants on the first day of work after Eid al-Fitr holiday has been at an alarming stage.

Jakarta Employment Agency that monitored the attendance of civil servants at the City Hall on 22 July 2015 proved the matter.

From the total of 69,000 Jakarta civil servants, 6,763 (around 9.8 percent) skipped the first day of work.

Last year, the percentage of civil servants who were absent reached 8 percent, while in 2013, it was around 1.5 percent.

From the number, more than half obtained leave permit, were on duty to other regions, attending a training, or ill. However, around 1,000 civil servants allegedly went AWOL.

To those who skipped work, Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has long issued a threat: the government will deduct their Dynamic regional performance allowance (TKD).

The amount of the allowance is almost similar to the amount of the workers’ basic salary.

The issue of AWOL among civil servants despite the fact they have had enough holiday does not only happen in Jakarta.

The same thing, just like reported by Minister of Bureaucratic Reform Yuddy Chrisnandi also happens in the regions.

At M. Yunus hospital in Bengkulu for example, on the first day of work after Eid holiday, many of the workers were absent. As a result, services at the hospital were seriously disrupted.

In Subang, West Java, morning roll call, that is routinely conducted every morning, was attended only by not more than 40 percent of the civil servants. The field looked empty.

Obviously, it was impossible that 60 percent of the civil servants were on duties to the regions or were on leave at the same time.

Punishment to those who go AWOL is lenient indeed and there is a possibility that the lenient punishment has made the habit of AWOL among civil servants get more and more rampant.

Government regulation number 53 of 2010 on Civil Servants Discipline says that those who go AWOL shall receive a sanction from their superior in the form of both verbal and written reprimands. And if they are absent for 5-15 days, they will receive a statement saying that their boss is not satisfied with their performance.

Delay in the periodical salary increase, delay in the promotion and demotion can be imposed only if a worker is absent for 16-30 working days.

However, those sanctions are very lenient and will not give deterrent effects at all.

To address the problem, the breakthrough made by Jakarta Governor Basuki through Government Regulation Number 193 of 2015 on TKD can be an example for other regions.

Basuki asserted that civil servants who go AWOL would not receive their dynamic TKD for a month.

Previously, civil servants who came to offer later than 07:30 a.m. will have their dynamic TKD deducted by Rp500,000 per minute.

However, because on the first day after Eid holiday, many civil servants go home earlier than the schedule, maybe Basuki needs to calculate the issue of cutting working hours.

If their working hours is less than 8.5 hours just like the regulations says, their dynamic TKD must be deducted.

Sanction in the form of allowance deduction is very likely to be effective and give a deterrent effect for those civil servants. Besides, those civil servants always enjoy salary rise from the government

With salary from the state money, those civil servants should give the best services for the public.

(*)