The decision by the government to pay high salaries to officials in the Agency for the Implementation of State Ideology Pancasila (BPIP) has sparked controversy. It is as if the decision was taken without considering the dire state of the nation's finances, and has offended people's sense of justice.

The salaries of BPIP officials are laid down in Presidential Decision No. 42/2018, which President Joko Widodo signed on May 24. It states that the ch