B

ureaucratic reform movement in Indonesia has received new blood with the appointment of Azwar Abubakar and Eko Prasojo, respectively, as the administrative reforms minister and deputy minister.

By appointing a professional like Eko to accompany the administrative reforms minister, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has taken the right decision. If the two new appointees can cooperate and complement each other, SBY’s hope for speedy bureaucratic reforms may come true.

The implementation of bureaucratic reforms has so far been moving at a snail’s pace and in an uncertain direction, causing many to start losing patience. The Administrative Reforms Ministry as an engine of bureaucratic reform seems to be overwhelmed by its workload, thanks in part due to its limited resources.

The ministry does not have enough “reform-minded” personnel. In fact, in several cases, some of them tend to be pro-status quo, as evident in the rejection of the draft law on National Civil Service (ASN) that was initiated by the House of Representatives (DPR).

Most innovations introduced in the bill were rejected by the government, which prefers amending Law No. 43/1999 to respond to current issues of reforming Indonesian civil service. The law is no longer relevant to the needs and challenges in the face of globalization and democratization.

The appointment of Azwar, who was a House lawmaker, and Eko, who is one of the initiators of the draft of ASN law, is expected to change the government’s response to the draft law in a positive way. Many of the ideas in the draft are actually indispensable in laying the foundation for bureaucratic reform in Indonesia.

The idea of introducing a merit-based recruitment, impartial bureaucracy and civil service as a profession deserves support in line with the government’s efforts to build professional institutions. In fact, if those ideas can take effect then bureaucratic reform will materialize.

One of the challenges facing Abubakar and Prasojo is to promote a reform mind-set among their staff. One reason for the slow bureaucratic reform movement in Indonesia is the ministry’s failure to transform its staff into reform-minded personnel. Therefore, before working as the engine of reform, the ministry should be reformed first.

Mainstreaming reform within the ministry is not easy, but it must be done. This is possible by assessing whether bureaucratic reform has really been adopted as the ministry’s core value and institutionalized in its vision and missions; whether the reform has been translated into functions and activities to be implemented by the ministry; and whether the existing institutional structure of the ministry reflects its mission to become the engine of the bureaucratic reform movement.

For the time being, energies for reform mostly come from the assistant minister for bureaucratic reform. In the long run all units within the ministry should serve as the driving force of bureaucratic reform in the country.

The ministry may adopt the characteristic Dutch team’s “total football” to utilize the remaining three years for acceleration of reform. But without reforming its structure then attempts to precipitate the reform will only intensify conflicts between the assistant to the minister for reform and other assistants. Energies needed to push for reform will then be exhausted to manage internal conflicts.

Eko’s appointment as deputy minister is also expected to change the ministry into an institution that is open to new ideas. If bureaucratic reform is adopted as a public agenda, the strategy to implement reforms should also be subject to public scrutiny.

The Administrative Reform Ministry should liaise with centers for bureaucratic reform studies and universities to collect feedback and innovative ideas that will help accelerate the reform.

The ministry today tends to be inward looking in understanding various issues, including bureaucratic reform. They tend to see problems facing the reform based on their own internal perspective.

The way they understand the problems is strongly influenced by the existing institutional structure and the culture ingrained in the ministry. They are trapped in group-thinking, while problems facing
Indonesian bureaucracies are so complex that a different way of reading the issues is necessary to identify them more precisely.

This inward looking perspective is evident in the draft government regulation on standards of services prepared by the ministry, which in many areas overlap, if not contradict, regulations on minimum service standards issued by 13 technical ministries. Implementation of the regulations will be chaotic due to the different standards of services.

Although Law No. 25/2009 says the Administrative Reform Ministry is responsible for setting up standards of service, that does not mean that the ministry has the competence to formulate technical standards. What is needed from the ministry is a common standard of processes as created by ISO and other international standards.

In fact, it would be better if the ministry restricts itself to only encouraging service providers to adopt ISO or other international standards which are important in the wake of globalization.

Another challenge of the new minister is to strengthen the linkage between the ministry and the Institute of Public Administration (LAN).

The LAN seems to have better capacity than the ministry in developing reform ideas and has conducted many studies that could be utilized by the ministry. Unfortunately, many of the studies have been wasted. Given its limited resources, the ministry can take advantage of LAN as a policy think-tank to support the reform movement.

The new minister should encourage the institute to transform itself into a strong think-tank. Investment in the staff of LAN becomes very strategic here. It should cooperate with counterparts overseas, especially those in countries with modern public administrations. If the linkage between the ministry and LAN grows stronger, the quality of regulatory and policy making in the area of bureaucratic reform can be improved.

Challenges facing the minister and his deputy are mounting. But they can carve out a piece of history if they initiate appropriate and rapid actions in empowering the ministry and agencies under its auspices, such as LAN and the National Civil Service Agency (BKN), to accelerate reform.

The writer is a professor of public policy and management at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.