Jakarta – Home minister and PDI-P politician Tjahjo Kumolo proposed on Tuesday increasing regional heads' salaries to Rp 50 million (US$3,713), or five times higher than the current figure. Under the proposal, this would apply to both regents and mayors.

"I have submitted the proposal to the President," Tjahjo said as quoted by www.tribunnews.com. According to Tjahjo, the raise would materialize in 2016 or 2017 on the condition that Indonesian economy had grown by 6.5 percent. Under the planned scheme, a governor's salary could reach Rp 80 million.

A similar raise, he added, could also be applied to Indonesian military and police officers. The proposal would include giving lowest ranking officers a basic salary of Rp 5 million plus a housing option.Tjahjo explained that the increases would be contingent on regional heads' work performances. He also called for stricter supervision of regional heads' earnings as sometimes they also received income from other sectors.

"Law enforcers may misinterpret those extra sources of income, which explains why many regional heads are accused of corruption. We want to fix this," Tjahjo added. (edn/ika)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/08/04/rp-50-m-salary-proposed-regional-heads.html