Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Kusnari had to wait 10 years before the Jakarta administration paid him a monthly salary for his position as a semi-permanent state teacher. He said his patience had paid off, however, because it put him only three years away from becoming a permanent civil servant with a guaranteed income and pension. "I don't care how long or how hard it is to become a civil servant," he said.

Kusnari is one of millions of Indonesians who consider civil service jobs to be among the most privileged positions in the country. A study released Wednesday found that this perception has led to a closed recruitment system that does not consistently select the best applicants.

The study was sponsored by the Jakarta Consumers Foundation. It was conducted last year in Bandung; Sinjai, South Sulawesi; Bandarlampung, Lampung; Bima, West Nusa Tenggara; and Yogyakarta. It found that collusion and bribery among applicants and recruiting officials were common, since the results of the recruiting process often were not announced publicly.

In some cases, the process left applicants uncertain whether they had been accepted as new civil servants or not. Sometimes those who had not followed the selection process were accepted anyway. The study found the process resulted in the appointment of some civil servants who appeared incapable of providing good service.

"The main problem lies in the weak political will of the government in creating a good recruiting system. The State Ministry for Administrative Reforms cannot even reveal publicly the statistics on the number of jobs available each year and the types of positions," said Fajar Nursahid, one of the researchers on the study.

The only widely available data last year indicated that about 300,000 new civil servants were being sought, including 200,000 to be recruited from among semi-permanent employees at departments and regions. No further details were disclosed. This lack of transparency could enable administrations to manipulate the number of jobs available based on "special requests", Fajar said.

Eko Prasojo, an anthropologist at the University of Indonesia, said the government could start to reform the system by analyzing the number of jobs available each year based on the work system in each state institution.

Indonesia still has relatively few government employees, he argued. "We only have 3.6 million officials, which is far less than 5 percent of our total population. If we could define the need well there would be more people employed," Eko said, adding that according to an international study, the ratio of civil servants should be five to 10 percent of the total population.

Fajar suggested that the government establish an independent watchdog body to monitor the recruitment system. "The watchdog body would assure that only the best applicants become civil servants, just like in private institutions," he said.

Kusnari, however, disagreed with the call for a more competitive selection process. "I want to become a state teacher because it is less competitive and the job is less demanding than in private institutions. If it were as hard as being a private teacher, I would choose to be the latter since it would give me better salary," he said.

Common irregularities in civil service recruitment:

1. Applicants required to pay bribes to move through the system.
2. Manipulation of documents to allow unqualified applicants to pass.
3. Outside help provided to certain applicants.
4. Unclear announcements of results, leaving applicants uncertain why they were accepted or rejected.
5. Collusion to turn away applicants that do not have good connections with recruiting officials.

[Source: Researcher Fajar Nursahid (2006).]