Jakarta – Indonesia will more than double monthly allowances for impoverished state teachers, Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo said yesterday, but rejected their demands for a 300-per-cent wage hike.

The increase replaces a planned 100 per cent increase announced earlier. "Allowances for teachers will be raised by 150 per cent," the minister told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.

He also announced that the government would increase health workers' allowances by 125 per cent instead of 100 per cent. The 250,000 rupiah (S$54) average basic salary of government teachers is even lower than the official minimum wage in Jakarta.

With the new increase, allowances for costs such as food and transport will rise to 137,500 rupiah a month, bringing the teachers' total pay to an average of 387,500 rupiah.

Meanwhile, the government's decision on a 100 per cent pay rise for members of the House of Representatives (DPR) amid widespread protests by teachers over low salaries has brought on an onslaught of criticism.

"It is very clear that the political elite are merely thinking of their own interests. They don't care about the interests of society, social injustice and inequality," political analyst Arbi Sanit told the Kompas daily newspaper.

The government said the rise was to lessen the temptations of corruption. The government decision took effect last month alongside another controversial decree to raise the "structural" allowances of senior officials in administrative posts.

A public outcry caused Indonesian financial authorities yesterday to state they would slash by half steep rises of up to 400 per cent in allowances awarded to some senior officials.

Economist Tony Prasetiantono said MPs should be sensitive in reviewing government policies and that the MPs' pay increase reflected the absence of a "sense of crisis" among government officials and the legislature.