Policy without Virtue

SALOMO TOBING

Bivitri Susanti

Why are the decisions made by rulers for the benefit of the wider public called “kebijakan” (policy)? In fact, there are also policies that are not wise and have no virtue. We call these “ke(tidak)bijakan”, or unwise policy.

In English, kebijakan means policy, while in Dutch it is called politiek, in French politique, and in Arabic siyasah. From looking at the word kebijakan, it is evident that the political dimension is concealed from users of the Indonesian language (Zulfa Sakhiyya, 2021). The word obscures the fact that policies are born of a political process that is not always wise and can produce things that may not be wise.

The politics of language that assumes the inherent wisdom and authority of state power appears not only in the word kebijakan (policy), but also in the word “pemerintah” (government). The word “pemerintah” (government) can always be associated in an unequal relationship with the word “perintah” (govern or command). It is as if the government's job is merely to issue orders, but it cannot accept input from citizens, which is actually an “order” from the owners of this country’s sovereignty.

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Ke(tidak)bijakan, or “unwise policy” occurs if the policy target is a symptom of the problem, and not the root of the problem. For students and practitioners in both public policy and law, this framework of thought is so basic that it is almost impossible to not know how to analyze it. There are three possible causes of “unwise policies”.

First are political-economic interests. The roots of a problem may be concealed or may involve reluctance in resolving them because they involve political-economic interests. The position of certain political actors in the oligarchy can be threatened if a particular problem is resolved and the actual solution becomes policy.

One example is the government's “unwise policy” to suppress rising cooking oil prices by determining the community’s retail prices. What happened then was that producers withheld their stocks to prevent losses, and cooking oil became scarce in the market. A new problem has arisen because the government has directly suppressed prices, while the root of the problem lies in the provisions on special facilities for oil palm producers.

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

Hundreds of residents queue to buy cooking oil at the Alang-Alang Lebar Market, Palembang, South Sumatra, Saturday (5/3/2022).

The second cause of the birth of an “unwise policy” is looking for shortcuts to resolve a problem. This phenomenon can be seen when the authorities deem certain actions as problematic and want to eradicate them instantly by threatening sanctions. One example of this is in the Draft Criminal Code, which contains an article prohibiting homelessness that threatens to slap a fine of Rp 1 million (US$67) on homeless people. The provision is intended to instantly eliminate homeless people as a symptom of poverty by threatening them, rather than solving the core problem of poverty that leads to homelessness.

Another example of a misdirected policy is the Communications and Information Technology Ministry’s regulation on privately operated digital service providers (DSPs), which was enacted to eradicate fake news on social media platforms. Although it regulates DSP registration, this regulation is actually intended to facilitate the government’s control over what type of information can and cannot reach the public through DSPs.

Screening information is an instant way to resolve the issue. But the policy target is a mere symptom of the problem, which is that there are people spreading lies who happen to use social media, while the problem itself lies in the production of fake news, which can be resolved through literacy and efforts to clarify the truth. As a result, this regulation actually violates the human right to information.

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“Unwise policies” can also be caused by narrow views in exploring the root of the problem and in providing solutions. There has been poor imagination and a lack of perspective in providing solutions. In fact, without a perspective drawn from special attention to vulnerable groups, such as women and people with disabilities, a policy can actually create a new problem in the form of discrimination.

This is usually caused by the assumption that the authority to provide solutions exists only among people with rank and power. As a result, policymakers are content to simply hire experts or continue the policies made by their predecessors. In fact, the key to realizing broad alternative solutions and policy effectiveness is to use deliberative decision-making, such as in-depth discussions, in the policymaking process.

It is time for us to dismantle “unwise policies” with criticism. Linguistically, it may be very difficult to change the meaning of certain words. However, we must at least use and spread the idea of creating and implementing policies that always possess virtue, and of a government that is willing to be governed by or to listen to its citizens.

BIVITRI SUSANTI is a lecturer at the Jentera School of Law.

This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.