Expert calls for people's input in policy making

Expert calls for people's input in policy making

JAKARTA (JP): The government should side with the people and
show this by including them in all stages of policy making, an
expert said over the weekend.

The Public Administration Institute's rector, Ryaas Rasyid,
told a discussion on the draft of the 1998-2003 Broad Guidelines
of State Policies drawn up by the ruling Golkar, that the
government needed to be more sensitive to the public's feelings
and aspirations.

Last year's student demonstrations in Ujungpandang, South
Sulawesi, against a planned hike of public transport fares was an
example of a lack of sensitivity in policy making, he said
Saturday.

"The demonstrations, which turned into riots, wouldn't have
happened had the mayoralty asked for people's view of the plan
beforehand," he said.

Three students died in the riots at the Hasanuddin University
campus. They reportedly drowned in the nearby Pampang River while
trying to evade security officers.

Ryaas said the government should tighten the supervision of
government officials and punish them if they are found guilty of
misconduct, he said.

He said better recruitment policies were needed so government
offices took only the best candidates.

"The challenge is how to absorb universities' best students as
government employees," he said. "At present, the best students
prefer to work in the private sector."

A researcher at the Institute for Economic and Social
Research, Ismid Hadad, accused government officials of being
arrogant.

"They ignore the people who put them in office," he said.
"This happens because government officials are not held
accountable for their actions before the House of
Representatives, the body which is supposed to control and
supervise them".

Experts and officials who addressed yesterday's discussion
included the state minister of administrative reforms, T.B.
Silalahi, who said recently it was impossible to eliminate
corruption, and that private sectors were sometimes more corrupt
than government agencies.

He said Saturday it was hard to evaluate officials'
performances because Indonesia had not yet established evaluation
criteria.

The Armed Forces chief of sociopolitical affairs, Lt. Gen.
Syarwan Hamid, told the discussion that development should
benefit the people.

"The development program should not sacrifice the people," he
said.

He said the key to successful development was people's
participation.

During an earlier session, a member of Golkar's Board of
Patrons, Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, said the 1998-2003 State
Guidelines would be more concise even though new concepts had
been added.

"The more modern a country, the thinner its state guidelines
should be," he said after addressing the seminar Friday evening.

The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is due to hold its
general session next March to elect a president, vice president
and to draw up the Broad Guidelines of State Policies.

Sarwono said the guidelines had been growing thicker from one
general assembly to the next because MPR members did not have the
courage to decide which concepts should be included and which
should be implied.

Sarwono said many concepts in Golkar's draft of state policies
would be accommodated in the final document because Golkar won
the May general election. (imn)