Golden Period to Fix Civil Service

It is surprising in the era of disruption and start-up companies developing rapidly, that interest among millennials in becoming civil servants in this country remains very high.

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Civil service applicants submit documents at the Sawunggaling Building, Surabaya City Hall, in January (7/1/2019). The documents of up to 434 civil service applicants were used to check the authenticity of the requirements for the application process.

A Kompas poll on Nov. 16-17 2019 shows that 47 percent of respondents said they were still interested in becoming civil servants. The respondents to this phone-interview survey were 542 students aged 17 years old and spread across 34 provinces, covering several cities and towns chosen randomly using the systematic random sampling method. (Kompas.id, 27/12/2019)

The actual figure may be much bigger because 16.8 percent of respondents were still “thinking” about it. This phenomenon is certainly encouraging. The more people who are interested in becoming a civil servant, the more stringent the competition will be and it will lead to the recruitment of candidates of quality and integrity. The success or failure of a country cannot be separated from the performance of the country\'s civil servants, both civil servants and government employees with work-contract agreements.

However, this phenomenon also serves as a wake-up call for the central government, especially the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry and also the regional administrations.

This poll shows that the percentage of respondents who consider the civil service as an ideal main profession is smaller, only 20.3 percent. This figure is a decline when compared with 2017, which reached 26 percent. Judging from their motivation, respondents who based their choice on a “clear career path” only amounted to 34.7 percent. The second highest motivation was actually related to pension guarantees, 33.8 percent. Meanwhile, those motivated by the nobility of the work amounted to 15.3 percent and prestige was 5.2 percent.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

Participants in the selection stage based on basic competencies to become civil servants await the start of the test at the South Jakarta mayor\'s office at the end of October 2018.

In the era of disruption, where changes occur exponentially making various systems obsolete quickly, and replaced by new systems, this country needs civil servants who are able to adapt to change, are innovative and like challenges, not those who avoid challenges, let alone those who seek stability.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, in his first speech after taking the oath as President of the Republic of Indonesia for the second term at the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), dreamed of a reliable bureaucracy. Bureaucracy that is not monotonous and trapped in routine, but one that develops new ways to increase productivity. Work fast, but also well, he said.

Not just making policy, focusing on the process, but focusing on results and ensuring that people enjoy the service and also the results of development. Therefore, one of President Jokowi\'s five focuses in the second five-year term is to fix the bureaucracy.

Reforming the bureaucracy is also an old ideal of the Reform era, which has now lasted more than a decade, but has not yet been realized. This is the golden age. When the millennial generation still has great interest in being a servant of the state, it is also time to clean up the civil service. Let’s not miss it.