AGO told to reform recruitment, supervision systems

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government needs to reform the recruitment and supervision system in the public prosecution service in an effort to help improve the law enforcement system in Indonesia, often branded as among the world's most corrupt, researchers say.

The National Law Commission, a state-sponsored institution that conducted a study into the recruitment and supervision processes in the Attorney General's Office (AGO), said the system was full of flaws and needed to be improved.

Asep Rahmat Fajar, a researcher from the commission, said that the tests used by the AGO as part of the recruitment process were not challenging enough nor specifically designed to obtain bright young people.

The tests still used multiple choice, considered to be an outdated method, instead of more complicated essays, case studies or other specific tests, he added.

Speaking at a seminar titled "Reform of the Indonesian Prosecutorial System", hosted by the AGO here on Tuesday, Asep also said that recruitment committees failed to apply fixed standards in conducting interviews with candidates so that the results varied from one place to another.

A prominent legal expert from the University of Indonesia, Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, shared Asep's view and said that the AGO should not confine itself to recruiting only civil servants as new prosecutors.

The recruiters should also proactively visit the country's law schools to encourage academics to apply for the jobs, she added.

Harkristuti suggested that the recruitment tests be centralized to avoid the application of different standards by different provincial prosecutor's offices.

Responding to the findings of the study, the head of the AGO's personnel bureau, Bambang Waluyo, said that a lack of money made it difficult for the AGO to improve the recruitment system.

Around Rp 200 million (US$20,000) was allocated each year for the recruitment process across the country, which he said was far from being enough.

Bambang also pointed out that Law No. 16/2004 only allowed civil servants to apply for positions as prosecutors.

"Besides, if we were to advertise job vacancies in the media, it would cost a lot of money, which we don't have," he said.

As for the supervision system, another researcher, Meissy Sabardiah, said that most prosecutors failed to supervise their subordinates or to take firm actions against errant subordinates.

In fact, most supervisors in Bali, Jakarta, Manado in North Sulawesi and Padang in West Sumatra were not qualified to serve as supervisors as they lacked the necessary educational background, she added.

"Most of the respondents said that they had never participated in a training course or similar activity to prepare them for supervisory work," Meissy said.

Deputy Attorney General for Supervision Ahmad Lopa, meanwhile, said that prosecutors serving as inspectors general in the AGO did not need to undergo special training as they had generally worked previously as provincial chief prosecutors.

"So, they are experienced enough to occupy such positions," he said.

Lopa said that the AGO supervision division had always acted quickly in processing complaints from members of the public.

However, he added, most of the complaints were submitted by people using fake identities so they could not be acted upon.