BUREAUCRACY PERFORMANCE NOT YET PRODUCTIVE

There is a sharp Increase in the number of civil servants. One of the stimulating factors is regional expansion program that has created new regions. In addition to that, the increase in number of civil servants is also stimulated by the obligation to appoint honorary employees into permanent employees. This will cause state spending to swell. Budget allocation for public services, including salary-allowance- pension-insurance is considered imbalanced with public services account.

In APBN (State Budget) 2011, total employee spending allocated reaches Rp. 180.6 trillions (14.7%). At the same time, budget allocation to support achievement of priority infrastructure targets is only Rp.67.4 trillions. If we look at regional government’s financial structure, imbalance in the budget allocation is also found. In APBD (Regional Budget) 2011, there are 124 regions that recorded employee spending of more than 60% and capital spending only at 1-15%.

Therefore, there is an urgency to restructure the bureaucracy system, including civil servants performances. In the future, this policy could swerve as a foundation to re-arrange the system and management of civil servants to be more productive. It is expected that civil servants as foundation of bureaucracy will be able to empower transformation toward a modern, more productive, and public-service oriented bureaucracy.

The fact is that our bureaucracy performance is still weak. Even, there is an indication that many of the high-rank officers make use of their position to accumulate wealth for personal and group interests.

In such a condition, Indonesia’s competitiveness never improves as the bureaucracy system not yet shows a high professionalism. Bureaucracy performance in Indonesia is not yet productive. Performance and productivity of Indonesian bureaucrats are low if compared to other countries.

According to Chairman of Indonesian Businessmen Association (Apindo), Djimanto, the existence of bureaucrats is very important in supporting the national economy as they are those who serve the public. “If public services officers are lazy and their competency is low, economic development will be hampered”, he said.

Djimanto explains that there are some reasons behind the low performance and productivity of Indonesian civil servants. Firstly, the recruitment system which is full of collusion, corruption, and nepotism (KKN), and is not based on the merit system or competency, rank promotion and salary payment system are done regularly, not based on performance achievement. Thirdly, internal control system, such as the existence of Inspectorate General, has not been running properly.

Therefore, Djimanto urges the government and the parliament to immediately prepare a legislation which stipulates appraisal and sanctions for civil servants. One of the matters to be stipulated is rank promotion and salary payment system which are based on performance achievement.

To create a productive and public service oriented bureaucracy which is transparent, accountable, and far from corruption, there should be a comprehensive strategy. And, internally there must be a system that creates a positive atmosphere which could stimulate performance improvement. For example, public bureaucracy performance indicator. Performance must be an important consideration in rank promotion system. And, spending must also be balanced with performance.