The management of the bureaucracy all too often is not based on matching candidates with the competencies and qualifications needed for certain positions in the state apparatus.
Law No. 5/2014 on civil servants (ASN) acknowledges that the state of the civil service and bureaucracy in this country is not yet ideal. Reality still deviates from the ideal of having “the right man in the right place”, the right person in the right position, in accordance with competence and track record. The appointment, placement and promotion of ASN in office is not yet in line with good governance.
The ASN Law replaces Law No. 8/1974 on the principles of personnel, which was amended by Law No.43/1999. Law No. 5/2014 stipulates that the appointment of high-rank officials shall meet competency requirements, qualifications, rank, education and training, track record position and integrity and other requirements. However, improvements to the civil service and bureaucracy have yet to materialize.
Number regional leaders have been arrested, some have been convicted for their involvement in the illicit trade of jobs or posts in the bureaucracy. This occurs not only at the central government level. In fact, the State Civil Apparatus Commission found practices of buying or selling positions in 95 percent of the bureaucratic promotions at regencies/cities throughout Indonesia. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) received many complaints from the public regarding issues such as positions being bought or sold, both at the central and at regional governments, which is generally blamed on weak supervision in the process (Kompas, 1/8/2019).
Buying and selling positions generally takes the form of bribes involving officials in power. From 2004 to 2018, bribery was the most prominent crime handled by the KPK, playing a role in 564 of the 887 cases handled by the anticorruption body that year. Of the 887 cases, 423 cases occurred at provincial administrations, regency administrations and city administrations, not including those at legislative councils (DPRD).
KPK data show that, from 2004 to 2018, 121 regional heads were implicated in corruption. This number does not include the middle-rank officials in the regions and DPRD members. Every year there are regional heads who are entangled in cases of corruption related to the sale of positions.
In Central Java, Kudus Regent M. Tamzil was arrested by the KPK in July. In March, the former chairperson of the United Development Party, Romahurmuziy was nabbed by the KPK in cases revolving around appointments for positions at the Religious Affairs Ministry. In 2018, the regent of Cirebon, West Java, Sunjaya Purwadisastra were involved in corruption cases, and the regent of Nganjuk in East Java, Taufiqurrahman, was also reportedly involved in corrupt practices of buying and selling positions in 2017.
Bribery, including trade in bureaucratic positions, is a simple act of corruption that is actually easy to detect. However, the impact of filling in positions tainted by collusion, and not paying attention to a candidate’s competencies, means the public gets suboptimal services. In fact, this can give rise to new cases of bribery in a practice that is detrimental to the people.
There are even cases of corrupt officials not being removed from office despite being sentenced. Public office is not a commodity that can be traded, but a mandate to serve the people and serve the country.