Menpan RB Affirms No Mass Layoffs Of 2.3 Million Honorary Workers By The End Of 2023

JAKARTA - Minister for Administrative Reform and Bureaucratic Reform (Menpan RB) Abdullah Azwar Anas emphasized that there will be no elimination of the 2.3 million honorary staff at the end of 2023.

Azwar said this in response to the issue of large-scale removal of honoraria in November.

"The important thing is, this November there will be no mass layoffs for these 2.3 million. Because if there are layoffs for these 2.3 million, like the previous PP, then this will have an impact on public services and so on," said Azwar in Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Jakarta, Tuesday 12 September, visited by Antara.

Azwar is worried that if the elimination of honorariums occurs it will impact every aspect of service, including the high unemployment rate. He said that there are many honorary employees who serve vital sectors of public services.

However, the government may not appoint or recruit new honorary staff. He has also sent letters to ministries/institutions and regional governments to continue to allocate budgets for honorary staff for 2024.

"So, what is the format? Finally, we will discuss the State Civil Apparatus (ASN) Bill. Next month, we can ratify it," he said.

Later, in the ASN Bill, ASN appointments will not only be once a year or two years, but can be done at any time to fill vacancies left behind, such as retirement.

"So it's not like before, when it's empty, it's filled with honorary fees," he said.

He said that so far there have been many recruitments of qualified and unqualified honorary employees. So, he ensured that he would evaluate honorary matters in the future.

"Regardless of the previous recruitment, there were many who were of good quality, there were also those who were not, so we will evaluate this later," he said.