Jakarta. The government and the House of Representatives are currently stepping up the talks on the civil servant bill.

The 2014/5 Law and the 2018/49 government regulation states that there would no longer be non-civil servant workers after Nov. 28 this year. According to Alex Denni, a deputy at the Administrative Reform Ministry, initial estimates stated that Indonesia has 400,000 non-civil servant workers, but data shows that the number has reached 2.3 million people across the archipelago with many of whom are in the sub-national governments.

“The president’s instructions are already crystal clear. We will look for a middle ground by making sure there would not be any massive layoffs. We are currently discussing the option in the civil servant bill, which would have an implementing regulation in the government regulation,” Alex said.

According to Alex, one thing that everyone should take note of is that there should not be a layoff. “Imagine if 2.3 million non-civil servant workers cannot work on Nov. 2023. So we will secure these 2.3 million non-civil servant workers so they can continue working,” he said.

The government is also discussing different options and schemes. “But it has been decided that there would not be layoffs. The scheme is currently in discussion,” Alex said.

Alex added that the scheme should make sure that the non-civil servant workers’ income, later on, should not be less than what they receive today. Last but not least is that the scheme should take into account the government’s fiscal capacity.

“We will continue to calculate how much the government’s budget is. Every year, we try to hold recruitments so these non-civil servant workers can gradually become civil servants according to the government’s budget. So whatever the scheme will take on will have to adjust to the government’s budget,” Alex said.

He also said he hoped no government institutions would recruit non-civil servants according to the existing laws. “As we secure the 2.3 million non-civil servant workers that are verified in the National Civil Service Agency’s database so they would not get laid off,” Alex said.