Bureaucratic Reform Cannot Be Delayed Again

KOMPAS/I GUSTI AGUNG BAGUS ANGGA PUTRA

Civil Servant Award jury council chairman Helmi Yahya (left) explains the event’s selection stage for nominees on Nov. 4 (11/04/2019) at the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry. The government has encouraged state civil servants to continue to innovate. The Civil Servant Awards is aimed at fostering an innovative climate among state civil servants.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Bureaucratic reform can no longer be postponed because it is part of the government\'s priority programs to improve public services and facilitate investment. However, the program must involve careful preparation.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo again summoned Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Tjahjo Kumolo to Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday to discuss the plans to reform the bureaucracy. During the closed-door meeting, President Jokowi provided additional instructions related to his vision and mission and the priorities of the bureaucratic reform program.

After the meeting, Tjahjo said that bureaucratic reform had commenced long ago. However, bureaucratic reform had only been carried out on the surface so far, and had not been applied substantially to cover the core problems.

He wants this done quickly, because it is part of [the government’s] priorities.

"What he (Jokowi) wants is for bureaucratic reform to reach the core of the problem. He wants this done quickly, because it is part of [the government’s] priorities," he said.

Bureaucratic reform is to be implemented from the upstream to the downstream. Restructuring will begin by improving the civil service recruitment system. One of these measures is to halt the recruitment of civil servants to fill administrative posts at both central and regional governments.

The most important aspect, as President Jokowi has repeatedly stressed, is to improve management performance and to streamline state institutions.

Towards this end, the government will reduce the number of echelons from the current maximum of five to just two, echelons I and II, to cut routine and red tape.

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.

Improve efficiency

Tjahjo explained that the bureaucracy would be downsized to build a professional governance system. Aside from its effectiveness, a lean bureaucracy was also believed to encourage efficient public services.

Licensing, especially for investment, would be faster. "So far, permits must be approved at echelon IV and echelon III, why not at echelon II? Echelon II then orders the lower echelons to immediately process [the license]," he said.

Cutting red tape, said Tjahjo, did not mean a lay-off of civil servants. The government would still employ 4.2 million civil servants at the central and regional governments.

However, it would reduce, select and retrain 1.6 million civil servants who were concurrently serving as administrative staff as well as health and education staff.

Officials in the echelons to be removed would also be unaffected, and would be assigned functional duties. "Subdistrict heads, village heads, directors general, directors and the head of subdivisions will remain in charge, but they will carry out functional tasks," said Tjahjo.

Why is unrest a risk? Because echelon III and IV have a large number of staff.

He also assured that the civil servants’ salaries would remain the same, according to their current positions and levels. Civil servants would also still receive a performance allowance.

Responding to the government’s plans for bureaucratic reform, House of Representatives Commission II member M. Arwani Thomafi said that the government should be careful in its implementation.

Arwani expressed hope that the policy would not cause unrest among civil servants and affect public services. "Why is unrest a risk? Because echelon III and IV have a large number of staff – echelon III has 98,947 staff and echelon IV has 327,771 staff," he said.

In addition, the government must also ensure that transferring officials from structural to functional positions should be done carefully as regards not only the budget but also non-technical aspects.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

President Joko Widodo invites civil servants to take pictures while attending the commemoration of the 47th anniversary of the Indonesian Civil Servants Corps (Korpri) at the Istora Senayan venue in Jakarta on Thursday (29/11/2018). On that occasion, the President asked the civil servants to adapt to technological progress and continue to improve services for the community.

Mapping

Public policy observer Lina Miftahul Jannah of the University of Indonesia believed that the government\'s efforts to streamline the bureaucracy were a positive step, since there were too many levels in the bureaucracy.

Transforming echelons III and IV from a structural to a functional role also complied with Law No. 5/2014 on civil servants, which mandated that the placement of civil servants should be based on competency.

However, the government must prepare well. The first thing to do, said Lina, was to map the work it needed to do. It was also important to redefine bureaucratic reduction, because the central, provincial and regency/municipal organizational structures were different. Eliminating echelons III and IV would complicate regency/municipal administrations, at which the highest bureaucratic level was echelon II, the regional secretary (sekda).

Will any accountability issues emerge later.

If echelons III and IV were eliminated, all employees below the regional secretary would become functional workers. "Is the regional secretary an echelon [administrator], but those below are functional? Will any accountability issues emerge later?" she asked.

Lina suggested that any downsizing should start at the central government. Once all ministries and agencies had been downsized, then it should move on to the provincial level, and finally to the regency/municipal level.