Expert questions Golkar link to bureaucracy

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)