Govt bureaucrats told to serve people better

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto urged government bureaucrats yesterday to be more sensitive toward people, so as not to treat them merely as objects who should obey their commands.

In a speech at the induction of 905 graduates from state-run Public Administration Institute (STPDN) in Sumedang, West Java, as junior government officials, the President said the young civil servants must be more willing to listen to people's aspirations as part of the nation's supreme sovereignty.

"As members of the civil servants corps, you are obliged to serve and protect all of society," Soeharto said, adding that they should also respect different cultural, religious and traditional customs.

STPDN was designed to train future public administration leaders, with most graduates working at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Indonesia has 4,044,703 civil servants.

Unfortunately, bureaucracy is often marred by allegations of widespread corruption. Issues such as rampant corruption and poor public service were raised by campaigners during May's general election.

The annual report by Transparency International (TI), a non- governmental organization based in Berlin, categorized Indonesia last week as the 46th most corrupt nation out of 52 it surveyed.

State Minister of Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi frequently upbraided "arrogant" public servants for poor service standards.

Soeharto reminded the graduates, who will one day be chiefs of villages, subdistricts, districts and provincial administrations, that they would have to serve the public on the front line.

"Your success will depend on your sincerity and hard work to boost people's welfare," he said.

President Soeharto annually attends the induction ceremony, and similar treatment is given to graduates of the Armed Forces Military Academy.

Soeharto also called on public servants yesterday to encourage creativity in anticipation of the 21st century. "Initiative and creativity will only develop when people are freed from fear," he said.

"You are given authority to govern, but the power you have must be based on prevailing laws," Soeharto said.

Yesterday's swearing-in ceremony was nearly affected by an incident that occurred at the campus last Friday, when two students and a security guard were injured in an alleged brawl.

The brawl took place between graduates and their juniors, who appeared to take revenge against the graduates for earlier incidents during the school year. (prb)