Jakarta – The complex problems undermining the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) will not be resolved simply by replacing its head. Politicization has turned the institution into a source of sickness for the national research ecosystem. Efforts to improve matters will only succeed if BRIN is restructured and its functions restored to the original aim.

Over the last three weeks, rumors about the replacement of the organization's head have caused a stir within BRIN. Some of the members of the BRIN Steering Committee have agreed to propose an immediate change of leader of the organization to President Prabowo Subianto. But this plan has come to nothing. There are reports that Steering Committee Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri does not agree with this plan.

BRIN Chief Laksana Tri Handoko has long been a target of criticism. The agency has been beset by an unending series of problems, from the protracted merger of government research institutes to conflicts between management and researchers and the lack of progress in a number of national research programs. Pressure to remove Handoko has even come from the House of Representatives.

And in the last year, BRIN has achieved almost nothing because it has not been involved in a number of tasks set by the new government. Instead, Prabowo has reestablished the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, which has led to BRIN's future becoming even less certain. And now, when a crisis of trust in the leadership has caused deep divisions between the members of the BRIN Steering Committee, efforts to remove Handoko have come to a dead end. BRIN is now hostage to the uncertain political relationship between Prabowo and Megawati, who is also the General Chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

It is impossible for BRIN to recover if Prabowo simply replaces the head of the institution, because the roots of the problem lie in the politicization of research institutes that led to flaws in the establishment of BRIN right from the initial planning stage. Law No. 11/2019 on the National Science Technology System initially mandated the establishment of a body tasked with directing and synergizing research activities in government research bodies. However, the policy in the era of President Joko Widodo's administration turned out differently.

Instead of serving as a coordinator for improvements to research management, BRIN was transformed into a single body controlling all national research human resources and infrastructure. This deviation from the law turned BRIN into a giant research organization that is both bureaucratic and centralized.

Unfortunately, this research agency became not only an object for government authority, but also for the power of political parties when Jokowi also established the BRIN Steering Committee, and placed the leader of a party supporting his government at its head. This combination of a flawed design and strong political interests within BRIN has led to the development of science in Indonesia going into reverse.

The ball is now in Prabowo's court. As head of the government, he must immediately restructure BRIN, so it serves the interests of scientific development. Prabowo could dissolve BRIN and return its research activities to the organizations that were merged into it. At the same time, a new body could be established to coordinate improvements to the management and modernization of national research infrastructure. Although this would seem inefficient and time consuming, it would be better than allowing research to end completely as a result of an undemocratic research ecosystem.

For the public, Prabowo's decision on BRIN will be a major gamble. But the impact of centralization and political intervention on the research institute could be even worse if it continues in the hands of a new government that appears to be increasingly distancing itself from science.

– Read the complete story in Tempo English Magazine

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2065728/the-brin-power-struggl