The Future of State Civil Servants

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Civil servants attend a ceremony for the commemoration of the 47th anniversary of the Indonesian Civil Servants Corp (Korpri) at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday (29/11/2018). President Joko Widodo was present and acted as the inspector of the ceremony.

There has been an increasing demand for high-quality bureaucratic services. Therefore, state civil servants (ASN) must develop a work culture with strong discipline, transparency and accountability.

The state civil apparatus, formerly called civil servants (PNS), in accordance with Law No. 5/2014 concerning state civil servants, is committed to serving the people with moral integrity and responsibility. Just like the motto of the Indonesian Civil Servants Corps (Korpri), the ASN is the “servant of the state”. The ASN is a state servant, a public servant.

President Joko Widodo at the 47^th Korpri Anniversary celebration in Jakarta on Thursday (29/11/2018) said technological advances made it easier for people to express their hopes for better service from the ASN. The greater public demand for quality bureaucratic services should make the ASN build a work culture based on strong discipline, a high spirit of service, transparency and accountability. The ASN must utilize technological advancements, utilize knowledge and collaborate with other parties. The ASN cannot be trapped in sectoral ego, organizational ego and ego programs (Kompas, 30/11).

The President’s statement is difficult to realize if we look at the selection of prospective civil servants from last October. The Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry noted that, from around 2.8 million prospective civil servants (CPNS) in the selection process, only 10 percent exceeded the passing grade in basic competency set by the committee. If the selection continues, maybe only 100,000 participants would qualify. In fact, there are 238,015 posts for the CPNS this year.

The government, through the bureaucratic reform minister and Regulation No. 61/2018 concerning the optimization of the recruitment of civil servants in 2018, has decided to scrap the passing grades and, instead, adopt the ranking system. As a result, more candidates have passed the selection process so that they can fill in the vacant positions even though some of the candidates did not meet the passing grade requirements.

The issuance of Ministerial Regulation No. 61/2018 could be the best way to meet the needs of recruitment in this country, despite that it ignores their quality. How can a candidate who does not qualify for basic competency meet the qualifications set out in the law, which calls for bureaucratic reform and integrity; being professional, neutral and free from political intervention; being clean from the practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism; having the ability to hold public services; and working toward the unity and integrity of the nation? The merit-based system has also been ignored.

Also, the civil apparatus is required to adapt to changes, particularly the advancement of technology and communication, so that they are able to serve the people with transparency, integrity and quality. The government must work hard to build its civil apparatus so that they meet public expectations. The people must again wait for the birth of a new civil apparatus that is better than before. The will for bureaucratic reforms, as mandated by the ASN Law, seems to be colored by a path of uncertainty.