New Order style bureaucracy

New Order style bureaucracy

From Rakyat Merdeka

Almost all government institutions, including the bureaucracy of the foreign affairs ministry, are still applying the old paradigm. The Agency for Consideration of Profession and Rank (BPJK), for example, a product of the New Order which was totalitarian in nature, still exists.

What we need now is not a legacy of the New Order, but an agency for the inculcation of civil servants' mentality, to effect reform in mentality.

Presently, a record of good achievement and performance needed for promotion can be arranged through collusion. Under these circumstances, the rank and position of civil servants do not necessarily reflect the real skills of the person. In other words, those who have been working with the government do not necessarily have the skills required for the job they hold.

In the foreign ministry, many of the top managers do not have adequate managerial skills. Career development is still based on personal and irrational views, deviating from bureaucratic prudence, a concept practiced by the New Order regime.

The present government is expected to conduct reform in the bureaucracy. This means the New Order cronies should be replaced, irrationality must be eradicated and rational considerations should become the guidelines above personal and subjective values if justice and national stability are to be achieved.

ANDERSON

Tangerang, West Java