Indonesian extreme job 'judge'...a salary of 430,000 won for 32 years of service

Indonesian judges have decided to take collective action by taking a group vacation, saying wages and allowances have been frozen for 12 years and that pay is too low.

According to the Jakarta Post on the 5th local time, the Indonesian Justice Solidarity (SHI) has decided to go on an informal strike by taking a group vacation for five days from the 7th to the 11th.

Some judges will gather in the capital, Jakarta, to protest calling for improved judge welfare.

More than 1,700 out of about 7,700 court judges across the country have decided to join the group holiday, SHI spokesman Fauzan Arashid said, adding that "the number of judges joining the movement will increase further."

It added that court administrators and lawyers are also supporting their movement.

Suharto, a spokesman for Indonesia's Supreme Court, said the judiciary committee, the Treasury Department and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights would also hold a meeting to discuss the judges' demands.

However, regarding the judges' collective action, he said, "Vacation is a right given to all public officials, but it requires approval from the boss," expressing his opposition to collective action that could paralyze the court's function.

Indonesian judges have taken collective action because of poor treatment.

According to SHI, Indonesia's Supreme Court has frozen judges' wages and allowances for 12 years since 2012.

The basic monthly salary of a new judge is 2.05 million rupiah (about 180,000 won), and the highest-ranking judge with 32 years of service is only 4.9 million rupiah (about 430,000 won) per month.

In addition to the basic salary, 8.5 million to 14 million rupiah per month (about 740,000 to 1.22 million won) is received as an allowance depending on the court, but this has also remained unchanged for 12 years.

On the other hand, the Supreme Court judges receive much higher basic salaries, around 100 million rupiah (about 8.73 million won) per month, and an additional 2.5 million rupiah (about 220,000 won) per case.