Civil servants working in the Pohuwato district of Gorontalo engaging in extramarital affairs now have two options: repent, or get fired with no allowance.

The local government has recently distributed a letter warning civil servants of the consequences of involving themselves in extramarital affairs or other immoral acts

Regional Employee Education and Training Agency (BKPPD) chairman Zukri Surotinojo said on Thursday, as quoted by Antaranews.com, that any civil servants caught having affairs would not receive regional performance allowances (TKD) and could be fired from their posts.

He added that the government would only allow six months for the civil servants who've been proven guilty of violating the regulation to repent and behave well. Otherwise, they will be fired without pay.

Zukri said that the leaders of local government institutions have the power to monitor, question and sanction civil servants who are caught having affairs or engaging in other immoral activities. If the institutions' leaders fail to sanction their employees, they will be the ones ousted from their positions.

He added that such decisions were made to deter civil servants from acting unethically.

The media has often reported on civil servants from many Indonesian regions having extramarital affairs. Earlier this year, a middle-ranking official of the Ministry of Tourism named Turman Siagian died after reportedly consuming a tonic promising to increase sexual stamina in a posh hotel. A woman, identified as A.M., said that he fell to the ground and began seizing in the bathroom after drinking the tonic.

The high number of affairs among civil servants triggered the Gorontalo government to issue a regulation that transfers married civil servants' salaries to their wife's bank account. If a civil servant has more than one wife, the salary is transferred to the account of the legitimate wife.