Wow! 150 Million Rupiahs for A Position as PNS

Last Idul Fitri holiday, I follow this “mudik” tradition. But since my parents lived in Surabaya, me and my husband went to Probolinggo to meet his mom and uncles/aunties. Most of them are teachers in public schools, and were very proud of themselves for their “PNS” (Pegawai Negeri Sipil, or .. I don’t know what’s the correct English translation for it, can anyone help?) status. They will do whatever they can to make sure that their children also work as a PNS (or married to one). Even if it means they will have to pay IDR 150,000,000,- (yes, it’s one hundred and fifty million rupiahs) to local government officials, just to seal a position in any government-owned institutions.
The 23 year-old girl whose parents is anxiously struggling for the PNS status is Nina. She is my husband’s cousin, and just graduated with diploma degree in Midwifery with 3.55 GPA. For my naive mind, with that GPA she can easily find a job in local hospitals, why throwing away 150 million rupiah just get a PNS status? But she and her parents thought it’s all about pride, and “the easiness” to get more (perhaps illegal) money, along with the security of pension fund, bla bla bla.. So I rest my case, avoiding further arguments.

Since when does it become a common thing to pay hundreds of millions of rupiah to get a job, when it should be paying you instead?

Frankly speaking, this habit which has been going on for decades is more a cultural thing. In a broken system, even the stupidest thing can be considered as “normal” if everybody else is doing it. My question would be why isn’t there any improvements or corrections to eliminate this practice?

And my husband gave his reply, “That 150 million rupiah is not just for one person. It will be enjoyed by several people in the business of PNS recruitment system. Everyone gets their share, so nobody wants to see it eliminated.”

So it’s being maintained, on purpose. Just like our confusing education system which is obviously aiming to maintain a stupid, corrupted mind within our society, with no possibility of space for creativity, and criticism. When other countries are constantly revising their education system to meet this digital era, perhaps all we ever have is how to memorize the names of our heroes. Being critical is weird, and it will be a threat to the government.

And maybe, for my simple-minded small-village relatives, pride is above everything and it doesn’t matter how you earn it, what matters the most is that other people must be able to SEE it.

by: Pipi