Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday took civil servants to task again, saying they performed badly and were frequently absent from work.

Her comment followed a proposal for a rise in civil servants' salaries to up to 10 million rupiah (S$2,000) a month.

"I want it too," she said, referring to the salary raise. "But what about their performance and working spirit? I observe that they have trouble being present at work," she told a meeting on the empowerment of the civil service.

"So how can we have a better life if we keep complaining but refuse to roll up our sleeves?" she asked, the Detikcom news portal reported.

State Apparatus Minister Feisal Tamin had earlier suggested that the government raise the monthly salaries of civil servants to up to 10 million rupiah to bring them closer to the private sector.

In her speech, Ms Megawati also called for the establishment of a new bureaucratic system which was clean and accountable. Civil servants are poorly paid and some resort to charging illegal fees to supplement their income.

Last year, she had delivered a stinging rebuke to the bureaucracy, describing her administration as a "trash can" and telling officials to go out and check reports instead of staying desk-bound.

She complained on another occasion that they were a fawning lot who got on her nerves. Some of them, she said, had developed a habit of asal ibu senang or "keeping Madam President happy".

Last March, she also asked for drug tests to be administered to officials and warned them that the results could affect their performance appraisal.