Raja Humuntar, Jakarta – People simply call him Tatang. He is no public servant, but for decades now Tatang has had his own space at the office of the Tanjung Barat urban ward administration, in South Jakarta.
Nawawi, an officer with the civil registration unit of the administration, says Tatang is a "local public figure." Despite his non-employee status, Tatang hangs out at the administration office regularly, usually at the identity card registration section.
Asked if it is against the law to let a non-civil servant meddle and profit from public affairs, Nawawi says he has nothing to do with that.
"I'm here just to do my duties," says Nawawi, who was only transferred to Tanjung Barat a few months ago. "After all, Pak Lurah [the urban ward chief] also knows about this. And Tatang has been quite helpful; he helps bringing in files for the urban ward chief to sign."
Tatang is in fact an infamous "calo," an illegal middleman of sorts, for the Tanjung Barat administration. Local residents have complained about him forcing them to pay money for administrative-related matters that should be free or cost very little.
Tatang used to gain a lot from "helping" locals applying for ID cards, or KTP, at the urban ward office, or for renewing them. However, since the introduction of the electronic ID cards, or e-KTP, he hasn't been able to earn money from it. Since then, Tatang has been focusing on "facilitating" residents' applications for letters to switch domicile.
Ashar Makmur, a former chief of a neighborhood unit in Tanjung Barat, says based on what he has heard from people in Tanjung Barat, Tatang commonly exploits newcomers' lack of knowledge of how things work. Ashar claims Tatang has access to and is able to help residents secure change-of-domicile letters.
He usually charges Rp 500,000 ($41) for his services. One of his clients claims he still has not secured his letter, although it has been years since he paid that amount to Tatang.
Ashar says his own wife, who has replaced him as the neighborhood unit chief, is among those who have had an unpleasant experience with Tatang. Recently, Tatang asked her to issue a reference letter for "a friend" seeking to move house. Ashar's wife refused, telling Tatang to tell his friend to come by himself.
"Tatang became upset and instantly pushed my wife, calling her rigid. Two people witnessed the incident," Ashar says. "All the employees [of the Tanjung Barat administration] and the ward chief himself are aware of Tatang's presence."
Nawawi, though, claims he knows nothing about Tatang's illicit calo business in Tanjung Barat.
The new urban ward chief, Aryan Syafari, claims he doesn't know anyone named Tatang. He even claims to have enacted reforms in his office since he began serving there three months ago. "The head of the local Satpol PP [public order agency] and one of his staff have been transferred. He is well known for decades of 'playing' in the urban ward," Aryan says.
'Auction of positions'
Aryan was one of hundreds of subdistrict and ward chiefs inaugurated in June, after they were selected through the Jakarta administration's new recruitment system. This is the system that outgoing Governor Joko Widodo and his deputy, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, have touted as "lelang jabatan."
The term literally means "auctioning off positions." However, the new system is actually meant to be a transparent selection process aimed at reducing corruption, collusion and nepotistic practices in the appointment of people for several public positions. Such positions include subdistrict and ward seats, as well as principals of Jakarta administration-run schools.
The supposedly transparent process through which they have been selected is also touted to give birth to honest, local leaders who will be able to combat calo practices like Tatang's activities in the Tanjung Barat administration.
Such practices are not uncommon in Indonesia, although often those who act as calo are the public servants themselves. Their practices include asking citizens to pay illegal levies for services that are supposed to be free or cost very little – including registration for KTP and family registration certificates, as well as applications for moving and building permits.
The Indonesian Ombudsman says calo activities and illegal levies remain "rife" in Jakarta's bureaucracy despite the introduction of the new recruitment system. The ombudsman cites the result of its three-month-long of investigation into administrative procedures in 13 urban ward administrations and several Jakarta agencies.
Furthermore, in the past four years the public services have been the subject of the most public complaints, according to ombudsman official Budi Santoso.
"We have presented the results of our investigation to Basuki. He was very grateful [for our report] and said he would take concrete measures to eradicate such practices," Budi says.
University of Indonesia sociologist Imam Prasodjo says the new "open recruitment" system alone is not enough to end rampant calo practices and illegal levies plaguing the nation's bureaucracy.
"I think the new policy has been running quite well, because from that we can recruit the best leaders as products of the competitive and transparent process," Imam says. "To curb this phenomenon [of calo and charging illegal levies], we need top-down systemic changes."
Systemic changes, Imam adds, are necessary because many public officials, especially at the grassroots levels, have become too used to brokering services and engaging in the corrupt levy culture.
Those changes may be done through the use of online methods for public service payments, which minimizing citizens' direct encounters with civil servants, Imam adds.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jakarta/calo-epidemic-rife-graft-riddled-bureaucracy/