Ginandjar says bureaucracy must be modernized
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia must modernize its bureaucracy if it wants its development programs to be successful, Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita said yesterday.
Ginandjar said modern bureaucracies were more concerned with values than high-tech equipment in meeting rising public demands.
He said that only professionals should get jobs in the bureaucracy because they had to work transparently, with accountability and common sense.
"It means that they must maintain the spirit of honesty, justice and righteousness, because these will draw respect from the public and improve their dignity," he added.
He said various studies had proven that sub-standard bureaucracies derailed development programs.
Ginandjar was speaking in a three-day national seminar on administrative reforms, which was opened yesterday by President Soeharto. The seminar is held by the Ministry of Administrative Reforms, the National Institute of Administration, the National Archives Agency and the Institute of State Personnel Administration.
Indonesia, Ginandjar said, had set its sights on becoming an industrialized country by the end of the second long-term development program in 2018.
The country is expected to have 7 percent annual economic growth and an annual population growth rate below 1 percent.
This economic growth rate would increase Indonesia's purchasing power parity to US$2 trillion, making it the world's fifth or sixth economic power, Ginandjar said.
He said a stronger middle class, a successful poverty alleviation program, an increased life expectancy to 71 years, the rule of law and better conservation of the environment would follow successful economic development.
Challenges
Ginandjar said the bureaucracy should be able to mobilize the maximum potential of society.
"Bureaucracy should serve as the avant guard of changes and lead society to improvement," he said.
He said the bureaucracy was facing its toughest challenges in finding out what kind of bureaucracy the country needed to help its people reach their ideals and how would it evolve into such a bureaucracy.
"People's lives have become very dynamic and they will frequently cause changes," he warned.
He suggested that the bureaucracy come up with recommendations for facing future challenges.
"It is worth thinking that our bureaucracy needs, for example, to be trimmed, to have tougher qualifications and clearer job descriptions rather than better salaries," he said.
There are 3.5 million people in the country's bureaucracy.
Ginandjar said that cutting back on staff was as hard as raising bureaucrats' salaries.
The government increased the salaries of civil servants, including bureaucrats, by between 34 percent and 73 percent in the 1997/1998 state budget.
Another speaker Lilik Hendrajaya, the rector of the state-run Bandung Institute of Technology, said that civil servants needed higher wages because many were seeking to supplement low pay with money from travel expenses and moonlighting.
He suggested that the bureaucracy be divided into two groups according to staff skills. The lower group would comprise people with general skills and the upper group consist of people with expertise. (amd)