4 Facts on ASN in the 'Wet' Ministry of Public Works: Immune to Law - Pondok Indah House

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo has spoken candidly about the improper behaviour of employees in the Ministry of Public Works that exceeds the bounds of reasonable conduct as civil servants. He revealed this while facing pressure from several of his subordinates who were attempting to implicate him in a legal case. In fact, the reports he requested concerned allegations of budget irregularities in the Ministry of Public Works over time. Instead of receiving information on budget misuse or criminal corruption acts, he said the reports presented contained audits about himself. Dody only assumed the role of Public Works Minister on 21 October 2024. “This is what Mr Prabowo keeps mentioning back and forth, deep state. I’m being hit by the deep state,” he stated. From that issue, he also revealed several oddities in the behaviour of officials or ASN within the Ministry of Public Works environment, as follows: 1. Immune to Law Dody revealed that several officials in the ministry appear to be immune to the law. He referred to them as untouchable director generals. “There are. This is proof. Proof that’s crystal clear. I read that report book and was stunned,” he exclaimed. For that reason, Dody Hanggodo is determined to carry out a clean-up in the Ministry of Public Works environment. However, he admitted it’s not easy. Especially with his position managing a budget worth hundreds of trillions of rupiah that must benefit from Aceh to Papua. Therefore, he borrowed the term referring to the Ministry of Public Works as the “Wet Ministry,” which has proven true. “This is the evidence. It’s comfortable once you’re wet, right. We start cleaning up those issues, and again there are, like that. Luckily, I’m of sufficient age. Already 60 years old. And have experience everywhere. So it’s a big job, personally, as someone entrusted by the President to clean up the Public Works government. And the challenges are extremely difficult,” he said. 2. Suspicious Fund Collection Dody also revealed a suspicious practice that has emerged in the Ministry of Public Works, namely the collection of funds deemed illogical in terms of timing. “There is indeed fund collection. Fund collection of around Rp100 million for those who have passed away. Fund collection in 2022, for someone who died in 2025,” he disclosed. Dody assessed that these various anomalies need to be investigated further before further steps are taken. “Like that-that. But that’s one thing that’s just a draft. I still need to delve deeper with the Director General. What’s the problem here?” he said. He assured that he would conduct internal clarification to trace the findings further. 3. House in Pondok Indah Dody has also spoken out regarding the issue of asset ownership of properties by officials in the Ministry of Public Works environment, including allegations of houses in elite areas like Pondok Indah to Senopati. He chose not to speculate and refrained from disclosing details to the public, citing the potential for controversy that could spread widely. “Oh, if it’s about houses, then it becomes all sorts of unclear accusations. Because houses have long stories,” he said. Dody emphasised that the legal route is the more appropriate option if there are indeed findings or valid data related to the allegations. “Better if there’s data, I’ll hand it over to the law enforcement apparatus (APH) so the APH can handle it. It’s more comfortable that way,” he stated. He also assessed that raising the issue without strong basis would risk sparking wild speculation, including various justifications from the involved parties. “If I say it, then all sorts of stories come up. It could be an inheritance from Mr So-and-so, that kind of thing. Better not to talk about it, then it becomes a new problem for me,” he added. 4. Lunch Services Beyond Salary He then underlined that deviant practices do not always take the form of large-scale issues but also emerge from small habits considered trivial yet repeated. “Lunch is actually already part of our salary that goes into the account. But they still ask to be served by the state at the workplace. That’s actually corruption,” he stressed. In his directives, Dody also emphasised the importance of fair law enforcement without discrimination, especially towards high-ranking officials in the ministry. “If an Echelon I is wrong, then the Echelon I goes to prison. Not then dumped to Echelon II, dumped to Echelon III,” he said. He assessed that the old practice of passing down faults to lower levels actually creates a bad example for the young generation of civil servants. “The young generation of Public Works today, in my opinion, will compete to steal APBN money to get positions as quickly as possible. That must not be allowed,” he stated.