'Reinventing' is ideologically neutral

'Reinventing' is ideologically neutral

JAKARTA (JP): The concept of "Reinventing Government" appears
to be closer to the Republican's goal of less government, but
Democratic President Bill Clinton wholeheartedly adopted the
concept the moment he came into the White House in 1993.

The concept is free from ideology, says Ted Gaebler, the co-
author of the best seller 1992 book Reinventing Government -- How
the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector.

"That's the reason why governments of Indonesia, Singapore and
elsewhere are interested in the concept."

"If it came with American baggage, it would be of little value
here," Gaebler says.

Alternative systems of government, such as that in Australia,
authoritarian governments, and even former dictatorships, either
have found, or will find the idea valuable, he argues.

"The commonality is how to improve bureaucracy, not how to
improve politics," he says. "Reinventing government provides a
neutral set of strategies to do that."

In the United States, the idea has led to a reduction of
300,000 people from the federal government's payroll; in the
Department of Defense, the rule book for personnel has gone from
8,000 to 400 and finally to 40 pages in length.

Privatization and the downsizing of government, concepts that
were very much associated with British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, are but
two tiny strategies in reinventing government, Gaebler says.

"They are not an overall driving force. Having governments
look at what they are doing, the role they play in society, these
and all the other institutions is what reinventing is about."

The key word, in Gaebler views, is "entrepreneurial
management".

In the United States, Gaebler says Oregon is the most
"reinvented" state government, and it is followed by Florida,
Massachusetts, Utah, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

"Unfortunately, California, my home state, is not," says
Gaebler, a resident of San Rafael, California.

Among city governments that were most reinvented, he cites
Hampton in Virginia, Charlotte in North Carolina, and Santa Clara
in California.

These were assorted Democratic and Republican controlled
governments.

What makes one government more successful than others?

"They have had relatively consistent focus on changing the
bureaucratic structures, to be much more outcome-oriented,"
Gaebler said.

In Oregon, he said the people there set "benchmarks" -- what
the citizens wanted as the end products of their institutions. On
health care, they quantified their targets of their expectations,
not from the government, but from the health care system.

In other states or cities, they have put up many services that
were traditionally provided by governments, on competitive bids.
Some services were retained, but only after public employees won
the bids.

"This means that they have lowered costs by having public
employees compete for retention of their jobs. Costs are lower,
and morale goes up.

"It's a marvelous changing-the-consequences. If you don't
compete, you'll lose your job. This comes in with the
consequences-strategy. It's a very powerful strategy," Gaebler
says.

The popularity of his book has meant extensive foreign
traveling for Gaebler, to discuss his ideas and to offer his
services in the application of the "Reinventing Government."
strategies.

He has been invited to Australia and New Zealand, Russia,
South Africa and Latin America. In this part of the world, he has
worked in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, and is
currently involved in a project in Singapore.

Gaebler recalls a meeting with Philippine President Fidel
Ramos in Manila. "He gave me three books that he had written on
reinventing the Philippine government. He wanted me to validate
what he was already doing," he says.

Ramos however may not get the chance to apply the concept
himself, given that the Philippine constitution bars him from
serving a second seven-year term.

What about Indonesia, which has been deregulating and
debureaucratizing since the mid-1980s?

"I had a discussion in 1994 with some government officials,
but there was no follow up," Gaebler says. (emb)