Expert questions Golkar link to bureaucracy

JAKARTA (JP): Leading political analyst Miftah Thoha yesterday questioned the civil service corps' unfailing support for Golkar, the ruling political organization, saying that this is unhealthy for Indonesian democracy.

The bureaucracy should be non-partisan to better serve the public, Miftah told a seminar to review the role of the Indonesian civil service in the national development program.

By siding with Golkar, the civil service is working chiefly for the benefit of Golkar and supporting their bid to stay in power indefinitely, he said at the one-day seminar.

J.B. Kristiadi, chairman of State Administration Institute (LAN), was the other speaker at the seminar organized by the Center for Information and Development Studies (CIDES).

"Bureaucracy should support the development of democracy," Miftah said. He went on to stress that in its partisanship, the bureaucracy has become a separate political power and this could create serious problems, including putting democracy at stake.

The Civil Service Corps (Korpri), to which all government and state companies' employees belong, is one of the backbones of Golkar, along with the so-called Armed Forces Big Family, and a number of other powerful mass organizations.

Miftah said the Golkar link has made the bureaucracy very powerful to challenge.

Citing an example, he said the proprietors of Tempo, Editor and DeTIK news magazines were virtually helpless when their publishing licenses were revoked by the government last month.

Ideally, Miftah said, bureaucracy should be freed from any relationship with politics, and those who represent bureaucracy should not officially affiliate themselves with any party.

"What's going on here is that every civil servant is Golkar's cadre. How, then, could they serve all the people?," Miftah protested.

Every top government echelon, from cabinet members to village heads, are virtually Golkar functionaries. Minister of Information Harmoko is the chairman of the ruling group.

Paying off

Human rights campaigner H.J. Princen, who was also present at the discussion, warned that the current condition of Indonesian bureaucracy could be counterproductive to national development.

"If, for instance, to get an export permit we need one hundred signatures, and every signature means money, we can imagine what will happen for this country in the long run," Princen said.

Responding to Princen's warning, Kristiadi argued that the bureaucracy could not be entirely blamed for the current condition, saying the practice of paying off government officials often was started by the people themselves.

"I'll give you an illustration. A man looking for a letter from an immigration office puts a Rp 10,000 banknote inside his folder. So, what would you expect from the immigration officers? In other words, there is not yet an effective system which can control such practices," Kristiadi said.

He said the government is striving for greater public accountability with the assistance of professional organizations such as the Association of Indonesian Doctors (IDI), the Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI), and the All- Indonesian Teachers Union (PGRI).

Kristiadi said the civil service also has a major human resources problem on its hands, as only 10 percent of the four million government workers are university graduates.

"You can imagine how difficult it is for us to change their mentality. They are accustomed to being served but now they have to serve people," Kristiadi said.

One solution now being pursued by the government is the introduction of modern management systems into the bureaucracy, Kristiadi said.

He said this does not necessarily mean using sophisticated hardware, but more importantly, creating efficiency and transparency.

"You have sophisticated computers to process drivers licenses. But if you need three days to process a license, it means you are not following a modern management system. On the other hand, even if you have manual machines, if you only need two hours to process the license it means you are using modern management," he said. (11)