There are many stereotypes about Indonesian civil servants. Being at work on time… is not one of them (with absenteeism after holiday breaks being an especially notorious problem). In an effort to reward his most punctual employees, Sigit Widyinindito, the mayor of Magelang in Central Java, yesterday handed out gifts to some of the city’s civil servants who arrived at their office earliest after the end of the 10-day long Eid holiday break.
It is not the first time that Mayor Sigit has handed out such rewards – in fact, he has done so every year since he was elected five years ago. But each year, he chooses a different government office to visit on the morning after the end of the Eid holiday to hand out gifts.
This year, the lucky civil servants who received rewards came from Magelang’s Regional Drinking Water Supply Company (PDAM). The mayor said he chose PDAM because of how important their job was to supplying clean water to Magelang’s citizens.
Bagus Samudra came into the PDAM office the earliest on Monday morning at 5:20am. He said he had not come in early hoping for one of the mayor’s gift but because he had to do extra work to cover for other PDAM employees who would be absent that day. For his exceptional earliness, he earned a new refrigerator from the mayor.
The next earliest employee, who came at 5:25am, received a TV. Subsequent early birds, who all arrived before 6am, received a water dispenser, gas stove, rice cooker, blender and an iron.
Mayor Sigit said that the gifts came directly from him and were not purchased using government funds.
“The prizes were purchased with my personal funds, not using the city’s budget,” Sigit said on Monday as quoted by Kompas.
At the same time, Sigit said he would sanction any government employees who did not return to work on Monday without prior authorization, noting that they had already had a long holiday and were given performance bonuses before the break.
“Employees are now more prosperous, so their performance should be better dong, do not do the opposite. Give good service, so that people will trust the government more,” Sigit said.
Do you think the mayor’s early bird incentive scheme is a good idea? Let us know what you think in the comments.
