Amidst the election issues that have been widely discussed, UI academics unlocked the public’s perspective regarding the vision and mission of presidential candidates, especially in bureaucratic reform. The president’s vision for bureaucratic reform is considered important for the country’s development because it can improve efficiency, transparency, accountability, and public services.
Dean of the Faculty of Administrative Sciences UI, Prof. Chandra Wijaya, M.Si., M.M., said that economic growth will not be realized if authorities overlap and services are complicated. Improving the quality of health and education services will also be deterred if human resources are less competent. Therefore, UI is collaborating with the Indonesian Association for Public Administration (IAPA), the Asian Group for Public Administration (AGPA), the Policy, Governance, and Administrative Science Research Cluster (PGAR), and Prenada Publisher to open a discussion to review bureaucratic reform strategies in Indonesia.
The discussion was held on Wednesday, at the Faculty of Administrative Sciences Auditorium and attended by several speakers including BRIN Researcher, Prof. Siti Zuhro, Professor of FISIP Unsoed, Prof. Dwiyanto Indiahono, IPDN Professor at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Prof. Djohermansyah Djohan, Deputy Chair of the TIMNAS Expert Council, Dr. Amin Subekti, Member of the TKN Expert Council, Mulya Amri, Ph.D. and Member of the TPN Expert Council, Dr. Peter Abdullah.
The speakers discussed topics related to bureaucracy in Indonesia, including millennial civil servants and changes in work culture, horizontal relations between State Ministries/Institutions and vertical central-regional, digital bureaucratic transformation, as well as bureaucracy and internal supervision related to corruption.
Regarding changes in work culture, there are three main reasons the millennial generation often changes jobs. They are higher salaries, more satisfying work, and better career development opportunities. The number of millennial civil servants who now dominate demands a change in work culture that is more flexible, prioritizing work-life balance, and building network-based relationships. The implementation of flexible working arrangements and squad models is the initial change in work culture within the bureaucracy. Therefore, bureaucratic transformation is necessary.
To launch bureaucratic transformation, the government conducts digital transformation through various policies. However, the transformation process has not been optimal due to several main issues, such as data integration, system interoperability, digital literacy, internet networks, and cyber security. Chairman of IAPA, Prof. Agus Pramusinto, said, “Bureaucracy is the tool and the heart, but digitalization is often only translated as a technology issue and we forget the concern is our service culture and mindset. Bureaucratic reform must start from the center, while the regions will imitate.”
Moreover, there was a book launch written by Professor of Faculty of Administrative Sciences, Prof. Dr. Eko Prasojo, Mag.rer.publ. The book, titled Contemporary Issues of Public Policy and Governance in Indonesia, discusses matters related to bureaucratic reform policy, such as political and bureaucratic relations in Indonesia, fundamental problems of the Indonesian bureaucracy, bureaucratic reforms that have been done and the results, and challenges in the future.
