State bureaucracy reform needed to face challenges
State bureaucracy reform needed to face challenges
DEPOK, West Java (JP): Indonesia's sluggish and centralistic
bureaucracy needs to be reformed in order to address people's
increasing demands for better services and face international
challenges, an expert says.
Azhar Kasim, a state administration scholar, said in a speech
marking his professorship at the University of Indonesia's school
of social and political sciences here Saturday that Indonesia's
four million civil servants still provided substandard services.
"Such public service is an obstacle to many spheres of public
life... it is not supportive of business enterprises because it
creates inefficiency and it fails to develop many of the
community's potentials," Azhar said in a ceremony attended by
rector Asman Boedisantoso and State Minister of Environment
Juwono Sudarsono, who is also a professor of international
politics at the school.
Azhar said the inefficiency was due to the centralistic nature
of the state administration, which relied heavily on detailed
procedures and regulations to prevent violations.
Feudalism and paternalism pervades the country's political
system and culture, he added.
Azhar said reform could take one of two forms, the first being
a top-to-bottom approach through reorganizing, downsizing and
economizing measures. A second approach could stress reform
through dialogs, perseverance, deep caring and a wish to change
from all members of the organization.
He suggested reforms could start with a focus on the
establishment of policies to improve Indonesia's competitiveness
and national leadership incorporating the collective wisdom of
the people.
Azhar also told Antara that in order for Indonesia to lift
itself out of its economic doldrums, the government should
provide transparent bureaucratic services.
Transparency is needed to prevent miscommunication between
civil servants and the public, he added.
"What is really happening here is that both officials and the
community do not understand their own roles, rights and
responsibilities," he said.
He said some government officials could not differentiate
between their own interests and public interests when it came to
their family business enterprises.
"We need to evaluate the orientation of our state
administration," he said.
"In the United States, it's not easy being a government
official, because of tight public control. Here, most people do
not understand their role (as a social control mechanism) maybe
because of the bureaucratic feudalism that we inherited from the
past," he said. (swe)