Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Millions of Indonesian civil servants nationwide will be subject to government screening starting next month to prove their loyalty to the nation.
The 4.1 million civil servants in the country have been given a month to register and take the nationalism test at the local offices of the National Employment Body (BKN). The test includes written questionnaires as well as interviews with BKN officials.
The move – initially planned to cover only civil servants in the separatism-hit province of Aceh – was announced by Home Affairs Minister Harry Sabarno on Sunday and soon drew criticism.
He told reporters after attending a plenary session of the Jakarta Council marking the 476th anniversary of the capital: "Even the civil servants outside Aceh may not be fully loyal to the nation, and they may have questionable commitment to Indonesia's territorial integrity. Through the registration process, BKN will divide the officials into three categories: loyal, uncertain and questionable." He said BKN officials could determine the depth of the civil servants' loyalty through their answers.
Asked whether the civil servants who failed the test would be sanctioned, he said: "We'll see after the registration process." The plan came as Indonesia began a crackdown on government officials and local politicians with apparent links to the separatist group Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the province that is currently under martial law.
The military authorities in Aceh have detained more than 10 officials, members of local legislatures and businessmen in the province for allegedly supporting or sympathising with GAM. Jakarta said last week that it would conduct a registration process for Aceh civil servants.
But with separatist sentiment also brewing in other areas such as Papua, the government decided to conduct the screening for officials across the archipelago.
To many people, however, the move evoked the exhaustive special background checks of civil servants under former president Suharto. In 1990, he began the screening systems of civil servants to trace their past involvement in, or their links to, the Communist Party and other outlawed organisations. Officials often turned against each other to curry favour with their superiors or safeguard their positions. Former president Abdurrahman Wahid revoked the decree in March 2000.
Analysts fear that the planned registration process will lead to discrimination and rampant backstabbing among civil servants, as in the past. They also questioned the effectiveness of the so-called nationalism test.
Dr Jimly As-Siddiqie, state law expert from the Habibie Centre think-tank, said it was possible to conduct such a screening system in Aceh because the province was under martial law.
"But I doubt that it will be effective if it is applied across Indonesia, and I suspect there will be a lot of negative consequences, such as discrimination," he said. "How can we assess someone's ideology or judge the depth of someone's loyalty through questionnaires?"
But BKN chief Hardiyanto said his office also wanted to update data on civil servants through the registration process in light of the implemention of regional autonomy.