Yogie says democracy begins in villages
Yogie says democracy begins in villages
SEMARANG (JP): Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M.
called on village administrators yesterday to be more transparent
in their work and allow for extensive community participation.
Yogie said Village Deliberative Councils (LMDs) should
strengthen their role of filtering and then channeling the
aspirations of their people to higher state institutions.
"Such a mechanism would not only allow us to anticipate and
defuse potential social problems, it would also allow us to
accommodate more grassroots' initiatives," he said during a
meeting with more than 1,000 village chiefs from all parts of
Indonesia.
The village chiefs head their respective councils which
formulate and supervise village policies and regulations.
Yogie warned that with greater education, the people have
become more critical and demanding. "They want good, fast and
reliable services from the administration, and they demand
transparency over the way policies are made and administered."
He recognized the need to upgrade the course for village
administrators to accommodate these changes.
Soekardjan, a professor of public administration at the state-
run Diponegoro University in Semarang, later told the village
heads that the local administrations must allow the people to
participate thoroughly in national development.
"Don't let them become alienated or pushed out of the dynamics
of development," Soekardjan said.
He underlined the need for village administrators to lead the
government's current campaign to strengthen discipline.
Local administrators should reflect the highest discipline in
their daily lives, strengthen the image of the government and be
more responsive to the people's needs, he said.
For this to happen, the central administration must provide
counseling and guidance to the village heads, he said. "Don't
just simply unload the burden on the village heads. The central
administration must show understanding and pay more attention to
help them carry out their tasks." (har/emb)