Jakarta – Indonesia's government said yesterday it would pay its civil servants a special bonus in June but the finance minister has denied the move is linked to the presidential election the following month.

A Finance Ministry spokesman, Mr Syamsul, said the one-month bonus would help civil servants pay school fees at the start of the education year.

"It is up to the president to provide such bonuses and this one was approved by Parliament when the government proposed its draft budget for this year last year," Mr Syamsul said.

He said the last such bonus for civil servants was paid in the 1980s but could not give a more precise date and declined further comment.

Finance Minister Budiono, quoted by the Jakarta Post newspaper, said the payment had nothing to do with the presidential election on July 5. "We are paying it in June because it coincides with the beginning of the new school year," Mr Budiono said. Indonesia has some 3.5 million civil servants.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri is seeking re-election in July. On Tuesday she spoke out against 'money politics' and urged her supporters not to take bribes from rival parties.