Digitalisation of Public Services Seen as Solution to Energy Crisis Amid Middle East War

JAKARTA - The Executive Director of the Committee for Monitoring Regional Autonomy Implementation (KPPOD), Armand Suparman, stated that digitalising public services could serve as a solution for budget savings amid the energy crisis issue resulting from the war between Iran and the United States and Israel.

“Of course, what we hope for is the optimisation of public services,” said Armand to Kompas.com via telephone on Friday (27/3/2026).

Armand explained that this optimisation aligns with the government’s policy to consider a work-from-home (WFH) system for civil servants (ASN).

In addition, the government is advised to calculate which sectors can continue working from home and which must remain in the workplace.

“For example, the analysis section, whether it’s analysis related to policy planning or certain administration, which shouldn’t require going to the office, and in sectors like this, they can work from home throughout the week,” stated Armand.

“So the variable factor isn’t the number of days to work but the sector. That’s what I think the government needs to pay attention to, especially local governments,” he added.

Finally, there is an audit of energy use in government offices, which has been deemed to have considerable room for cuts.

If the implementation of WFH and work-from-office (WFO) takes off smoothly, Armand is confident the system can run not only during energy crisis issues but can be applied throughout the year.

One of them is considering the way Pakistan saves, such as civil servants working from home and the discourse on salary cuts for ministers.