7,000 Bawaslu Honorary Workers Threatened With Unemployment, Government Prepares 3 Options

Illustration of honorary staff (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of the Republic of Indonesia together with the Ministry of PAN-RB discussed three choices of schemes to resolve the problem of around 7,000 Bawaslu honorary staff who have the potential to be dismissed following the policy of removing honorary staff no later than November 28, 2023.

"The three schemes have special PPPK (government employees with work agreements). For example, PPPK with special criteria. Then, the second is distributed to civil servants or PPPK. Third, the honorary period is extended for the next two years, until the 2024 election is over," said Chairman of the Indonesian Bawaslu Rahmat Bagja quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, June 21.

Even so, both parties have not found an agreement related to the scheme chosen to resolve the honorary staff issue. The three schemes were discussed by Bawaslu and the PAN-RB Ministry in a meeting, but Bagja did not mention in detail the time of the meeting.

He then conveyed that Bawaslu hoped that the PAN-RB Ministry could choose one of the three schemes as long as it benefited the Bawaslu honorary staff.

Previously, Rahmat Bagja said that Bawaslu would lose around 7,000 thousand honorary workers spread throughout Indonesia after attending the inauguration of members of the district/city General Election Commission (KPU) in Banten, Jambi and West Sumatra Provinces, at the Indonesian KPU Office, Friday (16/6).

Bagja said that when the 7,000 honorary staff were dismissed, in each district/city Bawaslu there would only be eight to 10 civil servants. With the number of employees classified as few, Bawaslu has the potential to have difficulty monitoring during the 2024 election campaign.

The same thing happened to the Indonesian KPU. According to members of the Indonesian KPU, Parsadaan Harahap, his party is threatened with losing 7,551 non-state civil servants (ASN) or honorary staff following the policy of removing honorary workers.

Thousands of honorary employees were scattered at the Indonesian KPU Office or the Secretariat General of the Indonesian KPU, and a number of provincial KPU offices and district/city KPU offices.

Parsa also said that the removal of honorary staff will occur when the stages of the 2024 General Election enter a crucial phase, such as the start of the campaign period and preparation of voting logistics which basically requires many human resources.

Therefore, the KPU continues to coordinate with the Government and other stakeholders to resolve the issue.