Robert Go - Representatives of Indonesia's lower-level civil servants last week warned parliamentary leaders of possible strikes should the government implement a plan to raise drastically the salaries and allowances of top civil servants.

Mr Feisal Tamin, leader of Indonesia's Civil Service Union, Korpri, confirmed yesterday that representatives of the low-level civil servants had attended a private meeting with Indonesia's leading lawmakers late last week to submit objections to the disproportionate salary hikes which favoured top echelon officials in the Indonesian government.

"The government's action was unjust and non-supportive of the majority of civil workers and we should guard against dissatisfaction and disharmony within the civil service," he said.

Without the support of ordinary workers, the government would shut down, he said, emphasising that his organisation's views were also supported by Indonesians at large.

"We suggest a 350 per cent raise across the board and that, in the future, the salary structure should be merit-based," he said. A source in the Finance Ministry, however, outlined the government's budgetary problems and defended the existing plan as "practical".

"There is simply not enough cash in the government's coffers to give all 6.5 million civil servants meaningful allowance raises." According to his figures, a 10 per cent increase for the entire civil service would cost a staggering 3.5 trillion rupiah (S$220 million), whereas the current plan of a basic allowance hikes for all workers and extra increases for high-level workers would only add 1.1 trillion rupiah to next year's budget. In other countries, he said, salary gaps between upper management staff and the workers were more balanced and establishing this kind of equity should be the aim of the government.

Although "togetherness" was a key word in his organisation's platform, Mr Feisal said that Indonesia's current weak economic condition would not be able to withstand prolonged and organised strikes and demonstrations. "We are asking our members to be patient, but if they want to protest and strike, or simply perform their duties sloppily, we cannot control all of them completely," he said.

In addition to restating his case, however, Mr Feisal expressed optimism that the problem would be resolved quickly and satisfactorily. He added that Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung had immediately called Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo and President Abdurrahman Wahid to propose a re-examination of the issue. Parliament has delayed the controversial hike in the salaries of senior civil servants which was scheduled to have taken effect this month.