Where is Part-Time PPPK Headed?
Indonesia’s bureaucratic reform continues moving towards a more professional and adaptive civil service system, particularly following the official abolition of honorary worker status effective 31 December 2025 in accordance with statutory regulations. The elimination of honorary status is evidenced by the emergence of a new employment category: Pegawai Pemerintah dengan Perjanjian Kerja (PPPK—Government Employees with Work Agreements), established as part of the State Civil Apparatus (ASN).
This scheme was designed to address increasingly dynamic government organisational needs whilst reaffirming commitment to a merit-based system. However, the introduction of the Part-Time PPPK category presents new dynamics that have not yet achieved full directional clarity. Amid the 2026 revision of the ASN Law, fundamental questions arise: Where is Part-Time PPPK headed?
The Part-Time PPPK Status
The emergence of Part-Time PPPK essentially represents a policy response to managing non-ASN personnel who have been part of government operations. This policy can be understood as a transitional step to accommodate organisational needs whilst avoiding wider administrative disruption. Nevertheless, Part-Time PPPK status still leaves considerable uncertainty, particularly regarding its position within the broader ASN system.
Even the differences between Civil Servant (PNS) and PPPK status remain subject to discourse among government employees, particularly concerning career development and rights and obligations. This uncertainty affects not only individual employees but also government organisations. From the perspective of Organisational Uncertainty Theory, organisations frequently must adapt when facing regulatory changes and policy dynamics. In such circumstances, organisations create temporary solutions to maintain operational stability.
Consequently, amid the statutory mandate to eliminate honorary workers, the emergence of Part-Time PPPK status became an instant answer. Those who became Part-Time PPPK are honorary employees whose data is officially registered in the State Personnel Agency (BKN) database. Upon closer examination, they continue performing the same tasks and functions as in their previous positions. The transition from honorary employee to Part-Time PPPK was seemingly merely to fulfil the legislative mandate—simply changing the “uniform” without attending to rights, obligations, and welfare.
Furthermore, long-term status ambiguity potentially creates broader consequences, both organisationally and individually. From the organisational perspective, status uncertainty complicates long-term human resource planning. Without such clarity, organisations will struggle to formulate systematic and sustainable human resource planning. At the individual level, status uncertainty can affect work motivation and commitment. Status certainty is not merely an administrative matter but relates to career certainty, competency development, and professional recognition.
Uncertainty in Part-Time PPPK Status
Moreover, with contracts lasting one year, Part-Time PPPK remains vulnerable to employment termination if evaluation results deem them incapable of contract renewal, as stipulated in the Decision of the Minister for State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (Kepmenpan RB) Number 16 of 2025 on Part-Time Government Employees with Work Agreements.
Based on BKN data as of August 2025, the total non-ASN personnel in the BKN database potentially eligible for appointment as Part-Time PPPK reached 1,370,523 people—meaning more than one million individuals face status uncertainty. With greater demands due to their changed ASN status, Part-Time PPPK welfare requires special attention given their income is equivalent to the City/Regency Minimum Wage or previous income, which differs substantially from Full-Time PPPK and PNS income components. This is particularly urgent amid current discussion of eliminating Part-Time PPPK status in the ASN Bill.
Direction of Part-Time PPPK in the ASN Bill
Within the bureaucratic reform framework, employment status certainty is an important foundation for building a professional ASN system. Bureaucratic reform concerns not merely efficiency but creating systems that are fair, transparent, and sustainable. Therefore, Part-Time PPPK’s presence must be positioned within a clear and definitive policy framework.
Ultimately, the question of where Part-Time PPPK is headed cannot be left hanging without clear direction. The government must promptly take firm and measured policy steps amid the ASN Law revision already included in the 2025 national legislative programme.
First, the government must explicitly establish Part-Time PPPK’s position in the revised ASN Law and its derivative regulations. This clarity must definitively answer whether Part-Time PPPK constitutes an integral ASN component with specific characteristics or represents a transitional status towards Full-Time PPPK, including what stages Part-Time PPPK must traverse to change their employment status to Full-Time PPPK.
Second, the government must formulate a clear, measurable, and time-bound national roadmap concerning Part-Time PPPK management. This roadmap must contain medium and long-term policy directions, including evaluation mechanisms and possible status transformation based on organisational needs and employee performance. This must be undertaken so that each government institution/agency does not face significant obstacles in human resource planning.
Third, the government must establish transparent and consistent policy communication to all stakeholders regarding Part-Time PPPK’s future trajectory and the government’s commitment to professionalising the civil service system.