A deeply concerning news appeared on page 4 of this daily’s Nov. 13, 2018 edition: “Less Than 10 Percent of Civil Servant Candidates Pass Entrance Exam”. In early September, the government posted 238,015 vacant civil service positions for 2018.
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ANTARA FOTO/M N KANWA
Participants of the basic competency selection for civil servants await the start of the test at the South Jakarta mayor\'s office on Friday (26/10/2018). Selection for the Administrative Reform and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry, which was attended by around 400 applicants, was delayed due to internet network disruptions.
A deeply concerning news appeared on page 4 of this daily’s Nov. 13, 2018 edition: “Less Than 10 Percent of Civil Servant Candidates Pass Entrance Exam”.
In early September, the government posted 238,015 vacant civil service positions for 2018. According to the Cabinet Secretary’s official website, this included 51,271 vacancies in the central government and 186,744 vacancies in regional governments. The State Administration Agency (BKN) said on its website that one applicant may only apply for one vacancy, either in the central or regional government.
Thus, the recruitment process began. The results of the national civil service (CPNS) entrance exam were truly shocking. Less than 10 percent of all applicants passed the exam, most of whom were applying for central government positions. Kompas (11/13/2018) reported that most candidates failed in the personal character section.
Provisional BKN data on Friday showed that just 1.8 million of the 2.8 million CPNS examinees had undergone the basic competency selection (SKD). It also showed that only 9.51 percent of examinees in eastern Indonesia had passed, followed by 27.31 percent in central Indonesia, 41.53 percent in western Indonesia and 87.1 percent among central government employees (to fill vacancies in ministries and state agencies).
The result reflects the wide gap in the quality of our human resources. An imbalance exists throughout the country in qualified human resources. Generally, candidates apply for jobs in their native provinces. Not many candidates from Jakarta or other big cities are interested in vacancies in other regions, especially remote ones. Another gap exists in the quality of our educational institutions. In this year\'s CPNS entrance exam, all applicants with relevant educational backgrounds were allowed to apply for jobs in both central and regional governments.
The Bureaucratic Reform Ministry has now set up a special policy that establishes a ranking system and grading curve for vacant positions in the hope that they will all be filled, despite the lack of candidates that meet the minimum prerequisites.
If this policy is implemented, the government may potentially commit the same old mistake of hiring civil servants with questionable quality that the public, the agency where they are posted and regional heads will only complain about. The public will be sacrificed.
Under Law No. 5/2014 on civil servants, civil servant management is not based on aligning the basic competence and qualification for specific positions with the competence and qualification of the civil servants actually holding these positions. The implementation of good governance is yet to be optimized.
In keeping with the principles of bureaucratic reform, the civil service must produce qualified civil servants that possess basic values and professional and who are impartial, apolitical and free from corruption, collusion and nepotism. Bureaucratic reform will never become a reality if we do not take the quality of the CPNS entrance exam seriously. It is necessary to redo the selection process to maintain a balance of qualified candidates across all regions. Attractive offers must also be made.
