Flaunting Extravagance

If all civil servants no longer flaunt their wealth, is the problem solved? What is questioned by some circles is not the display of wealth, but the legitimacy of officials’ riches.

SALOMO TOBING

Ariel Heryanto

What is the most serious aspect, as yet overlooked, in the controversy about the luxury lifestyles of some officials? It is not their lavish wealth or the legitimacy of the wealth. It is not their profession as civil servants or ASN. Instead, it is this: can flaunting wealth be avoided? Is it necessary to condemn the behavior?

The President and the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister (PAN-RB) have prohibited civil servants from showing off their extravagant wealth. The prohibition is natural if civil servants display their luxury when they perform office duties. Yet civil servants have private lives outside their timetables and places of work. So do their families. Should their private lifestyles be regulated by the state?