A third of complaints against govt bodies valid
A third of complaints against govt bodies valid
JAKARTA (JP): More than a third of all the complaints about irregularities in government agencies filed by members of the public to the office of Vice President Try Sutrisno are justified, Minister of Information Harmoko said yesterday.
Speaking after attending a cabinet meeting on supervision activities, Harmoko said the government "truly appreciates" the strong public participation in monitoring the running of state offices.
He said that as of Dec. 31, 1995, 127,913 letters of complaint had been received since the office of the Vice President opened P.O. Box 5000 in 1988. Of these, 95,669 letters merited investigation or study by the relevant government agencies.
Harmoko revealed that 52,042 have been studied, of which 31.13% have been found to be justifiable complaints.
However over 45% of the complaints were found to be unwarranted, or difficult to prove, while another 23.75% needed further investigation.
The highest number of complaints were directed at officials in the regency/mayoralty administrations, central government ministries, village/sub-district officials, and officials of state-owned enterprises.
P.O. Box 5000 was set up on April 4, 1988, under the auspices of the Vice President's office as an avenue through which to channel public complaints of irregularities or malfeasance in state offices.
Yesterday's plenary meeting was led by Vice President Try Sutrisno and attended by all cabinet ministers, Attorney General Singgih, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung, the Governor of Bank Indonesia Soedradjad Djiwandono and heads of non- departmental institutions.
Harmoko hailed the positive impact of this mechanism for public control and said it was a worthy deterrent against elements considering improprieties or wrongful acts.
He also underlined that since the government introduced the built-in supervision mechanism in 1989, the number of irregularities in government agencies has declined.
As an example, he cited that in the 1995/96 fiscal year, which ends this month, the government uncovered 2,420 cases of financial irregularities in various agencies, a decline from 3,574 in 1994/95.
Harmoko said that as Indonesia prepares to enter the era of free trade, the government has to plug inefficiencies and increase discipline to achieve optimum results.
"For Indonesia, there is no choice but to struggle, fight and work hard to enter that era," he said, adding that supervision and inspection activities are important parts of this process.
"The main aim of the inspection function is to detect as early as possible any irregularities or wrong-doings between planning and implementation," Harmoko remarked.
The government does not hesitate in taking action in both rectifying these irregularities and punishing the delinquent parties, he said.
These sanctions could take shape in various forms such as administrative acts, penalties, reimbursement suits or legal criminal suits.
Harmoko said that since last year, the government has not only expanded but also intensified the scope of supervision which includes comprehensive investigations and evaluations on the accountability of all working units and management bodies.
He stated that there has been an overall increase in the number of inspections being conducted. (mds)