Ulma Haryanto – The government is anticipating a massive housecleaning after a special team formed by Vice President Boediono announced it would begin instituting sweeping administrative reforms.
The National Bureaucracy Reform Team on Thursday said it would begin carrying programs aimed at weeding out corruption and increasing the efficiency of services being provided at a number of government agencies this month.
The team was only waiting for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to sign a decree requiring all state agencies nationwide to implement certain reforms, which include eliminating overlapping positions and revising job descriptions of civil servants.
"The bureaucratic reforms that we want in place will include all levels, from the ministerial down to the city mayor's office," said EE Mangindaan, the state minister for administrative reform and the team's deputy head.
At the core of the reforms, Mangindaan added, is the implementation of the Public Service Law, which requires state institutions to assess their employees using a specific set of government-approved criteria, address public complaints and take immediate action to resolve them.
Since the law was passed last year, Mangindaan said he had already witnessed some changes.
"In terms of transparency and accountability, there has been some improvement. This has been our goal and it will only serve our country well in the long term," he said.
Boediono established the bureaucracy reform team in December, with the goal of overseeing the improvement of civil services. The team's target is to institute reforms in all levels of government by 2025.
The government began instituting reforms in 2007 at the Ministry of Finance, then at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and Supreme Court in 2008.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said recently that 1,961 personnel from her ministry have been sanctioned mostly on graft-related cases.
This year, reforms in the National Police, Attorney General's Office, Defense Ministry, Justice and Human Rights Ministry and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) will be prioritized.
Yudhoyono is expected to return home today from a state visit to Australia.