The BKPMD paper chase

The BKPMD paper chase

Not long ago Vice President Megawati gave this challenge to
people: Don't just complain; give us your suggestions.
Accordingly, I'd like to make a suggestion to the Minister of
Industry and Trade Mr. Luhut Panjaitan. Last July my company
signed an agreement to perform work for the North Sumatra BKPMD.
In October we submitted our bill. Recently we began to inquire
when the bill might be paid. And inquired, and inquired. For two
weeks the key personnel were out of the office. They were at the
airport meeting people, or in Jakarta, or belum masuk (haven't
come in yet) or sudah pulang (have gone home).

Finally a letter came saying the Provincial Investment
Coordinating Board (BKPMD) was ready to settle the bill.
According to the letter, to receive payment we had to submit
copies of our tax number, my university certificates, the work
agreement between BKPMD and my company, and proof that the work
had been completed. If BKPMD had required certain documents in
advance of signing the work agreement, this might make sense.
Asking for them after the work has been completed seems either
negligent or obstructive. In fact all this information is already
on file with the BKPMD office, probably in quintuplicate. The
more basic issue is that this repetitious and unnecessary demand
for superfluous documents is the kind of thing that by now the
ministry should have been able to reform. It opens the door for
an "arrangement" whereby some requirement can be waived in
exchange for an unofficial administrative payment (though in this
case no such suggestion was made).

This problem is not unique to BKPMD; it is endemic in the
bureaucracy. But the practice seems especially counterproductive
in the board's provincial offices, which presumably are trying to
impress investors with their helpfulness and efficiency.
Ironically, the overabundance of documents has clearly not
resulted in integrity of operations.

I hope Mr. Panjaitan might help expedite the payment of our
fee. I would also like to suggest that someone review all
procedures used in regional offices, for the purpose of
eliminating unnecessary paperwork, inefficiencies and
opportunities for corruption. Last July I hand-delivered an
outline for a pilot program for governance reform in the BKPMD-SU
to a member of President Abdurrahman Wahid's staff when the
President visited Medan. There has not been a response to the
proposal.

Revising burdensome procedures like those noted here would be
an easy place to start the march toward efficiency and good
governance. If someone doesn't act, we can only guess what
bureaucratic machinations autonomy might bring.

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra