Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament has delayed a controversial hike in the salaries of senior civil servants that was scheduled to have taken effect this month, the official Antara news agency reported yesterday. "Parliament has studied this and decided to delay the rise in civil servants' salaries," Minister for State Administrative Reform Freddy Numberi was quoted as saying.

Speaker of Parliament Akbar Tandjung confirmed later in the day that the House had notified the government of its recommendation to delay the hike in salaries and allowances. He said the increases needed to be "revisited", meaning they had to be re- examined.

Parliament had earlier agreed to increase the civil servants' salaries across the board in an effort to eradicate corruption. The pay increases were to have taken effect with increases in fuel and electricity prices on Saturday.

But students and labour groups protested last week. The salary- hike plan set off loud protests even earlier when it was revealed some top officials' salaries and other benefits would rise by a hefty 2,000 per cent.

Mr Akbar did not indicate if the recent protests in the capital and some cities in other parts of the country had anything to do with Parliament's decision to recommend a halt to the increases. However, he made it clear that legislators believed the hike in pay and allowances should still go ahead – but at a later date.

Reports here last week quoted sources at the Department of Finance saying that the government hoped to reduce corruption by paying the top layer of civil servants salaries that were comparable to those in the private sector. "Officials in the upper echelons have to work harder and have more responsibilities and they need to be taken care of," the reports quoted Mr Sriharto Brodjodarono, head of the Department of Manpower's Information Bureau, as saying.

But others were quoted as criticising the move. Gadjah Mada University assistant rector Mahfoedz Mas'oed, for example, said the government was acting on an erroneous presumption. "It is not an automatic equation that high salary means less corruption," he said.

When the increases were proposed last year, Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid said he did not understand how the government had the moral courage to ask for such steep increases at a time when the national economy was mired in crisis and the national budget was in distress.

The salary-hike plan also came under fire from Dr Amien Rais, the Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), who told reporters: "The government should prioritise hiking salaries of low-ranking civil servants. The salaries of the President, the Vice-President and the chiefs of the House and the MPR should be enough. They already enjoy facilities such as official cars and residences. They should be thankful to the people," he added.