Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – Calls are mounting for the government to immediately finalize drafting a bill on governance administration which is intended to promote bureaucratic reforms in Indonesia.
The slow pace finalizing the draft law has been blamed in part for the stalled reforms in bureaucracy. "We call on all community components including the media to jointly campaign for significant bureaucratic reforms, because after 10 years of reform, bureaucracy has been the slowest to progress," the People's Coalition for the Monitoring of Good and Clean Governance (Komwas PBB) said in a statement.
The coalition includes the Indonesian Transparency Society (MTI), the Indonesian Legal Aid Association (PBHI) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI). "The bill is a way for our hopes to push for change in our bureaucracy," it added.
The coalition accused President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of stalling to approve the draft law for fears it could end his control over the bureaucracy.
"The President discussed the bill during a Cabinet meeting last week, but asked the drafting team to revise it," team member Safri Nugraha said Monday after a seminar on administrative procedures hosted by the University of Indonesia.
"The President asked the team to synchronize the content of the bill with existing laws on law enforcement agencies," he added.
Yudhoyono also asked for better explanations of corruption and power abuse as mentioned in the bill, Safri said. He said the bill was necessary to promote an efficient and clean government, as well as to eliminate the sense of ego among government agencies.
"House of Representatives members, whom we talked to, have shown a good response," he said. "That's why we urge the government to quickly pass it on to them for deliberation," said Safri, who is also executive director at the UI Center for Law and Good Governance Studies.
The government initiated the bill four years ago, but progress has been slow due to disagreements among stakeholders during the drafting process, he said. "There are fears in the government the bill could disadvantage them," Safri said.
State Minister for Administrative Reforms Taufik Effendi had previously said the bill would separate the state, or bureaucracy, from the government.
The bill would serve as the standard administration procedure for all government agencies to ensure efficiency, improve public services and minimize corruption, collusion and nepotism, he added. Under the bill, government administrations must allow the public to express their opinions as part of the policy-making process.
The government must inform the public through invitations or mass media about their rights to voice their opinions at least 15 days before a policy is issued, it stated.
The draft law also requires the administration to give the public wider access to administrative documents, except for those under the "state secrecy" category. Safri said discussions on the draft the bill had been held more than 60 times, but disagreements remained, for example in determining sanctions for violations.
"Non-governmental organizations wanted criminal sanctions, but the government refused the idea and proposed administrative sanctions which we think make it a soft law," he said, adding that the team eventually agreed on administrative punishments.
The debate also focused on issues of government bodies implicated in the law – whether it should cover state enterprises or not, he said.