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)