Modernization of Bureaucracy for National Development

An advanced and modern country is always supported by an effective and efficient bureaucracy.

The experience of a number of countries shows that the quality of the bureaucracy is the key to successful development. This is because the bureaucracy is a state machine that drives governance functions, public services and programs or development activities.

Political decisions and public policies made by the leadership, both at the national and regional levels, will be difficult to achieve if the bureaucracy is not competent, lacks an ability to execute effectively and good coordination among institutions and regions. Building such a governance is certainly not easy and requires efforts for very basic changes or reforms. Bureaucratic reform is a complex concept, which includes structural, legal, procedural and cultural aspects, as well as .

Track record of the Indonesian bureaucracy

In the last ten years, quite a lot of achievements have been realized in implementing the bureaucratic reform. The capacity of human resources for civil servants has increased quite rapidly and simplification of regulations and bureaucracy, especially those related to the creation of a conducive business climate, has been carried out, so that in the end progress is seen and there is improvement in the development of various fields.

Also read: Building an Agile Bureaucracy

A number of the major steps that have been taken in the framework of bureaucratic reform include changes to the recruitment of employees, elimination and merging of 37 non-structural institutions, and finally simplification/conversion of the structural positions of echelon III, echelon IV, and echelon V into functional positions.

Accumulatively as of the end of December 2020, 38,398 structural positions have been removed and converted into functional positions. The goal, apart from increasing efficiency by cutting the long chain of business processes in the governance bureaucracy, is also to ensure that professionalism, expertise and a merit system are implemented as the basis for the performance of government officials.

However, if we look at reports of various measurements made by international institutions, the quality of the bureaucracy in Indonesia is still left behind compared to other countries. Based on data from The Global Competitiveness Report 2019, the performance of the Indonesian public sector had a score of 54.6 (in the rank of 54th out of 141 countries), with global competitiveness ranking of 50th out of 141 countries.

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This ranking decreased compared to the previous year, where Indonesia was ranked 45th. The level of effectiveness of the Indonesian governance based on data from The Worldwide Governance Indicators 2019, was still at a score of 60.1 (ranked 73rd out of 193 countries). Finally, the Corruption Perception Index of the Transparency International Indonesia (TII) in 2020 had decreased by 37 (down from 40 in the previous year), and was ranked 102nd out of 180 countries (from 85th in the previous year).

These various ratings should become a note for us to do muhasabah (introspection) and continue to take corrective steps. In an age where changes are so fast and complex, I see several reasons as to why our bureaucracy is left behind. First, the ability of our bureaucracy to respond to changes in an increasingly complex environment is not sufficient.

This is caused by the fact that its competence in complex decision making is still limited. Our ability to make bureaucratic decisions is still limited to situations that tend to be normal and stable. As a result, the decision making process tends to be time consuming and lengthy.

Second, our organizational structure is still fat with limited and overlapping functions. The organizational structure at ministries/agencies (K/L) and especially in local governments is currently still based on fragmented functions and not yet based on performance. This structure, apart from causing budget inefficiency, also makes it difficult for work units to work together within or among organizations. With various developments that exist today, such as information technology (IT), we have had to think about how to build a performance-based government organizational structure.

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Third, the absence of complete and valid data. Frequently the policies made are less effective when their implementation is basically determined by the availability of accurate data. This data is still scattered across various agencies, incomplete and out of date.

Fourth, ministries/agencies in conducting coordination are still not intense and inadequate. Because they feel they have great authority in their respective fields, ministries/agencies are reluctant to communicate and cooperate. As a result, development programs and activities that are broad in scope and across sectors are often formulated independently and only represent the orientation, interests and perspective of the respective ministries/agencies.

Also read: Bureaucratic Reform Report Card

Fifth, there is not enough system that can integrate the entire policy process from planning, budgeting, implementation, evaluation, to coordination across ministries/agencies.

Since the beginning of the cabinet formation, President Joko Widodo has disclosed that there is only the vision and mission of the President and the Vice President, no longer the vision and mission of the ministries/agencies. However, it seems that these directions have not been fully realized in the formulation of national development programs and activities, and have not yet reflected the synchronization of programs among ministries/agencies related to strategic target indicators.

Its solution is to make collaboration starting from the planning stage.

As a result, there has been no harmonization among various development programs in ministries/agencies in achieving national priorities. On the other hand, there is still redundancy or duplication of various development activities, both horizontally and vertically. For example, poverty reduction and MSME empowerment programs that involve many ministries/agencies have not shown optimal program synchronization.

Its solution is to make collaboration starting from the planning stage, which must be supported by integrated data, a performance appraisal system that encourages collaboration, the capability of bureaucratic officials to harmonize various programs of the ministries/agencies, and strengthening the mindset and culture of sharing the results and impacts of development.

System changes in the future

The country\'s challenges in the future are increasingly complex so that the bureaucracy must immediately adjust to collaborative work patterns, increase the capability of human resources and the organizational culture to make it better. The period during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond requires a fast and precise economic recovery program.

Based on the experience in East Asian countries, such as Japan, Korea, and China, including ASEAN countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia, the success of economic development is largely determined by a bureaucracy that is capable and has a high ability to adapt to change and is able to collaborate.

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The government and the House of Representatives (DPR) have enacted Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation which provides a more flexible space for investment licensing. Thus, the bureaucracy must immediately take advantage of the new regulation to accelerate the much-awaited national economic recovery.

In order to fundamentally change the Indonesian bureaucracy, there are several things that we must do. First, increasing the capability of the state civil servants (ASN), especially high-ranking officials (JPT), to understand well the planning system, performance-based budgeting, and their implementation in the complexities of the changes that occur.

The education and training program for candidates of the high-ranking officials should not be carried out in a traditional way, but must adapt to the needs of future changes, such as the ability to understand complex decision-making processes and the creation of new public value for the society. Recruitment for high-ranking officials also needs to expand beyond the bureaucracy to find the best talent.

Second, building various integrated modern systems based on advanced technology. These modern systems must be able to integrate various government business processes between ministries/agencies and local governments, including the formation of big data that can be used in a shared manner to achieve development performance. In other words, we must immediately transform the comprehensive electronic-based government system (SPBE).

Various existing systems, such as online single submission (OSS), national single window (NSW), including the Planning Collaboration and Budget Performance Information (KRISNA) system, must be better integrated and developed into One National Data to strengthen collaboration in in the bureaucracy.

Also read: New Normal Bureaucracy

Third, institutional reform must continue to be carried out to obtain a form of government organization that is flexible and fast in overcoming existing problems. The bureaucracy must not be allergic to changes in its organization if it is felt that it has been outdated and no longer able to answer existing needs. The hierarchical approach in the organization should be reduced and transformed increasingly into a networking approach.

As an "intermediate model", the flatarchy organizational structure can be applied to make the most of the available technological developments without having to extremely change the business processes. This form of organization is expected to be able to revive the pattern of cooperation that will be built while accommodating the very rapid development of information technology.

Fourth, flexibility and mobility in the use of civil servant human resources among ministries/agencies/local governments must be carried out on a competency basis. This is to reduce the mental of sectoral ego model and narrow perspectives and ways of working. National civil servant talent management needs to be developed to provide an information system for job placement, both structurally and functionally.

KOMPAS/MACHRADIN WAHYUDI RITONGA

Ma\'ruf Amin

Taking into account the fact that the Indonesian bureaucracy is being left behind today, we must work hard and earnestly to carry out these various transformations. To achieve the dream of becoming a world-class bureaucracy, it is not enough to do the bureaucratic reform only by changing the physical appearance with bureaucratic cosmetics, but also must be able to fundamentally revitalize all internal organs that are vital to the bureaucracy.

Ma ’ruf Amin, Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia.

This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.