PNS

PNS (Pegawai Negeri Sipil) or Government Employee is a job many people will die for to get one. Although the salary of the private company is a lot more than that of governmental office, many people will happily give up their job to become a PNS. Parents will be proud in telling others that their children work in some governmental offices.

I guess Indonesian people are afraid of insecurity. Being a PNS means you will always receive the same salary every month although you don't go to your office everyday, since the discipline in governmental offices is very loose. You can do another job in other city and don't come into the office for 3 months and no one ask you to resign, especially if you are a governmental employee who's paid by the central government, not by the district. The worse you can get is a warning letter. This won't happen in a private company, you only get what you deserved. You work hard, you get better salary and a toll highway to the top management level. You're being slow, you will be always at the bottom and eventually the company will ask you to resign. I guess most people want to be a PNS because of the less competitive setting. For people with ambitious streak, PNS are not for them, because in Indonesia, you can never be higher than your boss, there's this senior-junior culture.

At retirement, PNS gets salary for his whole life, well, 75-80% of the salary actually (without any functional or structural incentive), as long as you already worked at least for 25 years. So, you can be sure that you won't be begging for your children's money at your old days. Meanwhile, as private employee, they got a big sum of money at retirement, that's it. Money in a considerable amount tends to be spent faster than smaller amount.

I, personally, prefer to be a PNS. A PNS lecturer, to be exact. The nice thing of it is I can get scholarship easier, since I work for the government. And while I am pursuing my education, my salary is still paid, a kind of educational incentive. And the travelling I have to take for my educational projects are really addictive.

Anyway, this year we'll see PNS admission twice. At the beginning and the end of the year. A lot of excitement came of it, as usual. There are just too many applicants for too few vacant positions. The announcement of PNS admission from the general group (previously unemployed at the department he/she apply to) is released last month. A few of my friends were passed: Eka (pharmacist) in Provinsi; Rere, Nelly, Indri and others as lecturers in MedSchool Unlam; Diana, Aat, Imai, Jaya, and others as doctors in diferent areas in South Kalimantan.

Yesterday (Thursday), admission for PNS from the contract group (previously employed at the department she/he apply to) was announced. Quite a lot of friends were passed: Ani, Titin, Merry, Indah, Muthmainnah, Denny PNHM (Banjarbaru); Amah, Shinta, Yudi Nora, Zainal (Pemprof); Alex (Banjarmasin); Lia, Fitri, Rueh, Fadly (Marabahan); Maria, Jani, Rina, Agustin, Agus, Nelly, Danu (Pelahari); Yuyun, Herni, Winarni, Mudi, Wiwin, Fatur, Diauddin, Deddy (Kab Banjar); Dharmanto, Aan (Barabai); Nely (Tanjung).

Congratulations to all my friends. Finally, perjuangan kalian tidak sia-sia ya :)