| Subject: East
Timor bureaucracy to be slashed by more than half
East Timor bureaucracy to be slashed by
more than half
DILI, East Timor, Dec 29 (AFP) - The UN
administration in East Timor said on Wednesday it would need fewer than
half the number of civil servants employed during Indonesian rule.
The expected reduction from about 28,000
civil servants to just over 12,000 is based on "greater efficiency,
greater competence, giving priority to quality rather than quantity,"
said Sergio Vieira de Mello, head of the UN Transitional Administration in
East Timor (UNTAET).
"It would reduce -- in fact
eliminate -- corruption altogether and focusing on competence and
integrity," de Mello said at the conclusion of the second meeting of
the National Consultative Council, a type of cabinet for the
UN-administered territory.
De Mello, who chairs the council, said
about 7,000 civil servants are expected to be recruited during the first
year.
The council formed a special commission
to recommend a structure for the new bureaucracy and approximate staffing
levels in each department, de Mello said.
The commission, to report at the
council's next meeting on January 13-14, will also recommend salary
scales.
De Mello said a National Civil Service
Commission would then be struck to implement the guidelines and start
recruiting. He emphasized that the commission "would be
independent."
"We wish that implementation to be
carried out without any pressure from any political party or any nepotism
whatsoever," he said.
Former employees of the Indonesian
government would not be guaranteed jobs but they would be free to apply,
de Mello said.
Discussions will be held with Indonesia
about the possible payment of pensions to the former civil servants who
are not re-hired, he said.
He added that unsuccessful applicants
will be eligible for re-training projects to help them rejoin productive
life.
"This is mainly aimed at encouraging
those who might still be hesitating in camps in West Timor whether to come
home, whether to be part of the new civil service," de Mello said.
Aid agencies said tens of thousands of
East Timorese were still living in refugee camps across the border in
Indonesian West Timor.
The UN and other agencies have accused
Indonesian armed forces of directing a massive campaign to force out East
Timor's population after the August 30 ballot in which voters opted for
independence from Indonesia, which invaded the territory in 1975.
The National Consultative Council, which
de Mello chairs, has 13 members including Xanana Gusmao, president of the
pro-independence National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT).
The CNRT has six other seats on the
council. UNTAET is represented by three officials as well as de Mello. One
seat is held by a Catholic priest and another by a former supporter of
autonomy with Indonesia.
The council attempts to reach decisions
by consensus.
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