Bandung DPRD Urges Full Digital Document Optimisation to Support Smart City Vision
The transformation towards digitalisation is a key foundation in realising the city of Bandung as a smart city. To support this, the implementation of electronic administration needs to be continuously strengthened, including optimising the use of digital documents in public services and governance.
Chairman of Commission I of the Bandung City DPRD, Radea Respati, assessed that administrative digitalisation not only creates a more effective and efficient bureaucracy but also accelerates data integration between institutions. According to him, this is an important element in the development of a smart city.
In various government agencies, there are still administrative procedures that require documents to be submitted in digital format while also being printed in physical form. According to Radea, this practice should be evaluated so that the implementation of government digitalisation can run more optimally.
“In addition to increasing the volume of paper waste, the simultaneous use of two document formats also results in budget wastage, increased energy consumption, and contradicts the principles of modern bureaucracy which prioritise effectiveness, efficiency, and environmental sustainability,” said Radea.
He added, “The use of paper documents slows down the realisation of a smart city because it hinders efficiency, limits data integration, and contradicts the principles of sustainability.”
According to Radea, if a document already has legality through an electronic signature, a digital correspondence system, or an electronic archive, then the use of the digital document can serve as the main reference in the administrative process. Physical documents can still be used for specific needs as regulated by statutory provisions.
He explained that administrative digitalisation is not merely about changing the form of documents from paper to electronic, but also about simplifying work processes so that public services become faster, more efficient, and more accessible to the community.
In addition to supporting digital transformation, optimising the use of electronic documents is also in line with the Bandung City Government’s commitment to reducing waste generation through the application of the reduce, reuse, and recycle (3R) principles. Reducing paper usage is expected to provide additional benefits in the form of budget efficiency while supporting more sustainable environmental management.
Going forward, Radea encourages an evaluation of administrative procedures that still require both softcopy and hardcopy documents simultaneously. He also invites all regional apparatus to build a more digital work culture by ensuring the necessity of printing documents before using paper.
“Administrative digitalisation must be realised fully, not just by transferring documents to electronic format while still maintaining an excessive printing culture,” he said.
According to him, strengthening digital administration is part of the effort to build a bureaucracy that is adaptive to technological developments while supporting the realisation of Bandung as a modern, efficient, and sustainable smart city.