Public servants: Who are they?

To hear people say it, good public services are something rare and expensive in this country; government officials are practically denying citizens' their right to better public services. But despite the continual complaints about our public services, it is quite apparent that the government apparatus -- those we call our public servants -- have no real understanding of what public servants really are.

Consider, for instance, the following true anecdote: At a recent workshop attended by some 100 subdistrict and district heads in Jakarta, one participant -- a subdistrict head (lurah) from North Jakarta -- told the assembled participants that he objected to being called a public servant. "Thinking that we are their servants, people would become spoiled. They would become arrogant." A professor at the University of Indonesia's Faculty of Economics, who also spoke at the workshop, said that it was common for the bureaucrats to have a misperception of public services.

It is, of course quite a shame that a subdistrict head in Jakarta should have such a poor understanding of his own status. Being a subdistrict head, he should have been well aware that he is paid by the state with money derived, among others, from taxes collected from the public.

This subdistrict head's statement is proof of the condescending attitude that exists among bureaucrats, who prefer to use the old familiar authoritarian approach in fulfilling their function as "public servants". At the same time, his remark confounds the fact that the Jakarta City administration declared Kebayoran Lama Utara the Best Subdistrict for 2004, due to its best public services.

This annual competition is meant to encourage subdistrict heads in the capital city to improve their services to the public. This clearly affirms that the job of bureaucrats' is to serve the public -- which makes them public servants.

But official jargon aside, the expression "public servant" is just a term that does not need excessive debate. The bottom line in the issue is that public services in this country are far from satisfactory. Bureaucrats need not worry about being "oppressed" by the public, merely because of the term. They should strive instead to improve their services to the public, since it is generally acknowledged that people often become "objects" of manipulation, every time they have to deal with the bureaucracy for business.

At the neighborhood level, people still have to pay illegal fees when applying for ID cards (KTP). At higher levels, too, the imposition of illegal levies is rampant. Instead of the public "oppressing" the bureaucracy, it is these illegal levies that are imposed on people who need any kind of permit, but mostly business permits, that reflect the real oppression of the public by the bureaucracy. And the end result is the creation of a more serious situation, known as a "high cost economy".

Unfortunately, given the poor public services that have existed for decades, it is not easy to change the bureaucrats' attitude. Therefore, Governor Sutiyoso's gesture, awarding the Kebayoran Lama Utara subdistrict for its achievement in improving public services, needs our positive response. The governor's trophy is not a mere token that must be kept in a showcase. More than that, the trophy is a stimulus for City Hall bureaucrats at all levels to compete in improving their public services.

As the capital city of the country, Jakarta should set a good example to other provinces in the way of running its public services -- which is, after all, an important part of modern human civilization.