The arrests of several businesspeople and regional heads are inseparable from the country’s complicated licensure. Bureaucracy has become a darkened backroom for negotiations.
The complicated licensing bureaucracy has truly become a dark and cloistered backroom where the two parties – the licensor and the licensee – may negotiate and conclude transactions. We emphasize what Vice President Jusuf Kalla said, that the business world’s results-oriented approach often lead them to desire speedy licensure. Meanwhile, the bureaucracy, with its process-oriented approach, follows careful steps in issuing licenses (Kompas, 11/8/2018).
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) appears to have confirmed this. In 2004-2018, a majority of the KPK’s cases – 474 of them – concerned bribery, most of which was in connection to licensure. “There are so many cases at [the KPK] due to these differing perspectives between the business world and the bureaucracy,” Kalla said.
Among the recent KPK cases is the arrest of Bekasi non-active regent Neneng Hassanah Yasin and several other regional leaders, all for alleged corruption concerning licensure. According to the data of Satgas Saber Pungli (illegal levies eradication task force), 36,427 public complaints were reported over illegal levies from Oct. 28, 2016 to Oct. 15, 2018, most of which (52 percent) were in the public services sector.
Bribery and corruption remains two major banes for the country. They occur at the junction of two factors: personal motives and opportunity. When these two factors meet, corruption – bribery in particular – occurs. The licensing bureaucracy is a cloistered backroom of negotiations and transactions over permits.
It is these dark rooms of the bureaucracy that must be exposed. A transparent system utilizing information technology could be the solution. All licensing requirements must be made public and transparent. People must be able to monitor the progress of their license applications and whether they have met all requirements. A transparent system will tear down the oft-heard public perception over bureaucracy: “Why make it easy, if it can be made difficult?”
President Joko Widodo has often expressed his frustration over the bureaucracy of licensing, which he deems an impediment to businesses. The government must zoom in on addressing this problem. Ideally, everything to do with public services and licensing must be improved. What must also be understood is that, while political leaders may change, the bureaucracy always remains. A change in the bureaucratic mindset requires strong leadership and commitment.
We hope that the 2019 presidential election campaigns will be filled with programs to resolve the nation’s problems. In the context of widespread and unchecked corruption and bribery, what solutions do President Joko Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin and Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno propose? Substantial debate is far more important than the uproar over certain phrases, such as “tampang Boyolali” (”Boyolali face”) or “politik sontoloyo” (”crooked politics”).