Jokowi’s agenda for civil service reform Steve Woodhouse OBE  ;   UNICEF representative to Indonesia from 1995-2000 and was UNICEF regional director for Europe

JAKARTA POST, 11 Agustus 2014

                                                

                                                                                                                                   

There is widespread dislike of self-important, uniformed, corrupt and deeply un-customer-friendly officials that blight the lives of ordinary citizens throughout Indonesia. The requirements of long waits; bribery; uncomfortable, crowded, waiting rooms; queue jumping and excessive bureaucracy make life difficult for all. With president-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s commitment to and personal understanding and empathy with the masses, there are several steps he can introduce to dramatically improve the situation, many of which can produce quick results, thus shoring up popular support for him to counterbalance other policies such as a fuel subsidy reduction that may not be so popular. The establishment of a strong, independent civil service commission to oversee in a participatory and consultative manner the establishment of clear standards, attitudinal requirements and processes for the recruitment of civil servants would be a good initial move. The involvement of information technology professionals drawing on relevant experience from ASEAN neighbors and others could be tasked with streamlining and reducing paper requirements and processes, as the Indonesian bureaucratic process is heavier than most of its neighbors, and produces little added value except for the bureaucrats. The actual process of interviewing new, incoming candidates for front line jobs interacting with the general public needs review to include role-play testing of their friendliness of attitude and respect toward the poor in particular, along with other methods to ensure that individuals with positive pro-poor attitudes are recruited. Knowledge and skill can be easily developed but attitudes are much more difficult to change. Participatory pre-service training needs major attention, introducing new methodologies of problem solving using judgment balanced with initiative and based on clear standards of performance that can be easily measured, such as waiting times for licenses — “no one should wait more than 10 minutes” — for example and other applications by customers for which similarly specific measurable performance standards can be developed. The provision of transparent bonuses and other incentives such as accelerated promotion and increased opportunities for in-service training for posting to difficult duty stations should help to the point recruits to apply for these difficult places rather than be reluctantly drafted or paying to be posted in attractive duty stations. Most important will be the introduction of performance management systems that include anonymous and honest assessments by the general public on the quality of service provided by front line civil servants, with this assessment directly influencing bonus payments and other incentives for well-performing customer friendly officials. Yes, supervisors need to supervise and their assessment of their supervisees remains important, but customers also need to assess performance from their standpoint. The standards of performance must be clear, measurable and understood by all. Benchmarks and requirements for promotion need to be spelt out and shared with all, with a stress on both customer service and the good management of all types. Higher level civil servants at the managerial level and above need to have their own performance measured by the degree to which their subordinates function effectively with a true pro-poor customer service mentality. An attitude of wanting to nurture subordinates and get the best out of their potential needs to be a marker for promotion to ever more senior levels. Through both pre-service and in-service training, the understanding that civil service salaries are paid for by the general public through taxes needs to be fully internalized by civil servants as one of many measures to promote an attitude that civil servants exist to serve the general public rather than the other way round. A transparent complaints mechanism for poor performance including corruption, nepotism, favoritism and anti-poor behavior by civil servants needs to be developed and widely disseminated. Above all, the independent civil service commission that I propose must monitor progress and continuously adjust the system and balance of rewards and sanctions for good or poor performance, so there is a smaller but much better paid civil service that can be admired and supported by a newly united Indonesian general public under the leadership of president-elect Jokowi. ●