Timor-Leste gained independence in 2002 after achieving self-determination in a 1999 UN referendum. Now, the infrastructure and economic conditions of Timor-Leste have been destroyed. As the government began from scratch, since then, there have always been changes and improvements to regulations and laws for public servants. Every year, there is an increase in the number of civil servants through recruitment by government agencies. Nowadays, there are 13,142 civil servants working in all territories of the country; this has the "special regime." The difference can be seen in salary, work benefits, level advancement, job placement, and promotions. Overall, the "special regime" earns arguably higher salaries than those in the "general regime," even though they are at the same level. However, in the "special regime," they will not receive a promotion or an increase in the level of their performance appraisal, even though they get an excellent evaluation every year. This is different from the "general regime," where they will get an automatic increase in their salary and the opportunity to get promoted in their career if they obtain an excellent result in their performance evaluation two years in a row. This triggers dissatisfaction from both sides, such as when those from the "special regime" work as they please and lack motivation to work hard. This leads to many of them abandoning their jobs in rural areas to work and live in cities. In the "general regime," even though the salary is not as big as in the "special regime," they always have level and salary increases, as well as other benefits. Thus, in this policy paper, this problem will be analyzed, and there will be recommendations of policies that can be implemented by the government to ensure good and equal performance management for Timor-Leste’s civil servants.

resulted in a new problem where the central government finds it difficult to control the performance of these civil servants. Therefore, one of the Civil Servant Commissions’ (CFP) responsibilities is to ensure the registration of the performance evaluation of civil servants in SIGAP and process the step changes and employee progression (CFP, 2021).

There are differences in performance appraisals for civil servants in Timor-Leste that have resulted in dissatisfaction from many parties. In this case, the government, through the CFP, classifies civil servants into two groups, namely, the "general regime" and the "special regime." The difference can be seen in salary, work benefits, level advancement, job placement, and promotions. Overall, the "special regime" earns arguably higher salaries than those in the "general regime," even though they are at the same level. However, in the "special regime," they will not receive a promotion or an increase in the level of their performance appraisal, even though they get an excellent evaluation every year. This is different from the "general regime," where they will get an automatic increase in their salary and the opportunity to get promoted in their career if they obtain an excellent result in their performance evaluation two years in a row. This triggers dissatisfaction from both sides, such as when those from the "special regime" work as they please and lack motivation to work hard. This leads to many of them abandoning their jobs in rural areas to work and live in cities. In the "general regime," even though the salary is not as big as in the "special regime," they always have level and salary increases, as well as other benefits. Thus, in this policy paper, this problem will be analyzed, and there will be recommendations of policies that can be implemented by the government to ensure good and equal performance management for Timor-Leste’s civil servants.

This policy paper used an in-depth review and secondary data analysis of government reports and publications, especially from Timor-Leste Civil Servant Commissions related to the country’s civil servants’ performance.

To confirm the policy proposed previously, the following empirical case study result will serve as evidence to support the proposed policy. The empirical case is "The Effect of Additional Benefits, Leadership, and Work Motivation on Employee’s Performance Through Discipline (Empirical Study on District Social Service Civil Servants of Anambas Islands, Indonesia)" by Dwi Arief Laksono (2017).

The main problem facing the Social Service Department of the Anambas Islands Regency, Riau Archipelago Province, is unsatisfactory performance, even though various ways have been taken to improve it. Thus, this study aims to examine the effect of additional allowances, leadership, and work motivation on employee performance through discipline. The population in this study is 43 employees who were all employees at the Social Service of Anambas Islands Regency.

Giving an award to employees is considered acceptable and can improve employee performance. Awards given can be in the form of praise, financial rewards, or material gifts. In this case, the Anambas Islands Regency Government has also made donations for employee welfare benefits to encourage them to work harder. However, following the reduction of welfare benefits to civil servants at the end of 2014, had an impact on the decline in employee performance (BatamNews.co.id, 28 January 2015).

The author of this research stated the following hypothesis to test:

H1: There is an effect of additional allowances on service discipline.

H2: Leadership has an impact on the discipline.

H3: Work motivation has an effect on discipline.

H4: The discipline has an effect on performance.

H5: There is an effect of additional allowances on employee performance.

H6: Leadership has an impact on performance.

H7: Work motivation has an effect on performance.

H8: There is an effect of additional allowances on employee performance through the discipline of employees.

H9: There is an influence of leadership on employee performance through the discipline of employees.

H10: There is an effect of work motivation on employee performance through the discipline of employees.

Employee performance and discipline were used as dependent variables in this study. While the independent variables are additional benefits, leadership, and work motivation. The total sample consists of 43 employees from different categories. Primary data (questionnaire) is obtained directly in the field by the researcher. The variables in this study were measured on a Likert scale of 1-5, the answer is: a. Strongly Agree score of 5; b. Agree score of 4; c. Neutral score of 3; d. Disagree score of 2; e. Strongly Disagree score of 1.

The result showed that most respondents, employees of the State Civil Apparatus at the Anambas Islands District Social Service of Riau Archipelago Province, rated Additional Allowances in the "good" category (mean 4.14). Most respondents rated employee leadership in the "very good" category (mean 4.21). Of the 43 respondents who became the sample, it is known that most respondents assess employee discipline in the "good" category (mean 3.93). It is known that most respondents assess the performance of civil servants in the "good" category (mean 3.95). Among these four variables, the most noteworthy are: additional benefits have the highest influence on employee performance.

Based on the research findings described in previously, the following conclusions can be drawn from the findings of this study for Anambas Archipelago Social Service employees of the Archipelago Province Riau: additional allowances have proven to have a significant effect on discipline; Leadership is proven to have a significant effect on discipline; Work motivation is proven to have a significant effect on employee discipline; Discipline has been proven to have a significant effect on the performance of department employees; Additional allowances are proven to have a significant effect on performance; Leadership is not proven to have a significant effect on performance; Work motivation is not proven to have a significant effect on employee performance; Employee discipline has been shown to have an impact on employee performance; Leadership is proven to influence employee performance through employee discipline; Work motivation is proven to influence employee performance through employee discipline (Laksono, 2017).

To summarize this empirical case, the study's findings indicate that the variable that has a direct or indirect effect on employee performance is an additional allowance. They can also improve employee performance by paying attention to discipline in government. Good discipline can improve the performance of social service employees in the Archipelago District of Anambas, Riau Archipelago Province (Laksono, 2017).

Based on the research evidence collected by Laksono (2017) in Indonesia, it strengthens my recommendation that, in order to improve employees' performance, the government should pay attention to the additional allowances given to employees. Also, improve employee performance by paying attention to discipline in government. Good discipline can improve the performance of employees in Timor-Leste. Performance management for civil servants should apply to all, and it is not recommended that there be a classification of civil servants that results in discrimination between them. There must be a clear mission and goal for all civil servants, so they know they are on the right path. Inspection, monitoring, and auditing must be strictly enforced to control, supervise, and evaluate the performance of civil servants. Remuneration for civil servants must be based on their own good performance. Additional levels, promotions, and salaries must be balanced with their performance. Performance appraisals must also be equal for all civil servants.

With the increasing number of civil servants in Timor-Leste from year to year, as well as the actual regime differences between civil servants, which are divided into general and special regimes, it is difficult to control the performance and evaluation of civil servants. Because of the differences between these two regimes, some parties in each are unmotivated to work harder. Therefore, the authors provide recommendations for the government to prioritize performance appraisal and increase salaries to trigger the spirit of civil servants from both the general and special regimes to work harder. This recommendation also suggests to Timor-Leste's government that it implement only one type of civil servant and provide allowances for them. This recommendation is reinforced by an empirical case from Indonesia, which shows that the effectiveness and performance of civil servants increase when there are additional salaries or financial rewards as well as good leadership for them.