Jakarta bureaucrats say they loathe to be called public servants

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Complaints over poor public services are often a subject of conversation among Jakartans in offices, coffee shops, markets, waiting rooms and on public transportation.

A number of bureaucrats, however, feel that the complaints of tax payers do not deserve any response.

This attitude among bureaucrats surfaced on Monday at the quantum leadership and role awareness workshop attended by around 100 of Jakarta's subdistrict and district heads.

The workshop was organized by the Indonesian Civil Servant Corps (Korpri) to discuss efforts to improve the city's public services.

A workshop participant, who is a subdistrict head in North Jakarta, objected to being called a public servant.

He said such a term would raise people's expectations. "By thinking that we are their servants, people will be spoiled. They will be arrogant toward us," said the official, who did not mention his name while speaking at the workshop.

Subdistrict and district heads are not public servants, they are "public partners in the development process", he said.

His comment was made in response to a remark by workshop speaker Wagiono Ismangil, a senior consultant with the Jakarta Consulting Group.

Wagiono, who is also a professor at the school of economics of the University of Indonesia (UI), told the workshop that subdistrict and district heads were front-liners of the city administration in serving the public.

Therefore, he said the officials should change their attitude -- from maintaining their power in dealing with the public to their function as public servants.

Wagiono told The Jakarta Post that he was not surprised by the response of participants to his remarks about public services.

Bureaucrats in all levels of services preferred to use an authoritarian approach that has been inherited from the New Order regime rather than fulfilling their function as public servants, he said.

"It is not easy to change their attitude because it has been ingrained for a very long time," he said, adding that such a workshop could be used as an instrument to change officials' understanding of public services.

According to Wagiono, the wish of provincial governors to have the same authority as ministers' was an indication that state officials preferred to be armed with as strong a power as possible.

In his opening remarks, deputy governor Fauzi Bowo said that the objective of the workshop was to help subdistrict and district heads to become professional and skilled leaders in their respective territories.

He stressed professional leadership was essential because they were the city administration's representatives who deal directly with the people.

He said successful district and subdistrict heads were those who could satisfy the public with their services.

"The indication of your success is how you satisfy the people in implementing public services and how you accommodate people's aspirations in your programs," he added.