Public Service Reform: The Key to Good Governance

Recently, the demands for improved public service has increased. Negative image of public service in a number of government agencies became particular concern in the acceleration of bureaucratic reform program. Therefore, the improvement in public service, that is fast and innovative, is continuously being encouraged as one of the nine bureaucratic reform acceleration programs.

On 11 March 2014, the Deputy Minister for Public Service of Ministry of State Apparatus and Bureaucratic Reform (Kemenpan RB) delivered his presentation “Public Service Reform as Key to Good Governance”at BPS office, in a discussion on improvement in public service. It was attended by several echelon 1 officers, structural officials, and staff responsible for public service activities in BPS. Thesummary of the presentation is as follows.

Government Internal Control System

There are three major problems in national development. The first is the bureaucracy that is oversized, slow, and unable to provide excellent public service. The second is corruption cases in public sector; a number of state officials who abuse their power to get benefit from public finance. The last problem is related to inadequate infrastructure due to lack of state budget for it and its maintenance. Therefore, the bureaucratic reform acceleration program is required in order to solve these problems and createthe bureaucracy that is free from corruption, collusion and nepotism practices, service-oriented, competent and accountable for the duties and performances.

The Government Internal Control System (SPIP) is a system of control over the implementation of government activities as one of bureaucratic reform programs in order to achieve good governance. The SPIP is regulated in Government Regulation No. 60 of 2008. It is an integral process that must be implemented in all government institutions. SPIP enables the agencies to achieve their objectives through effective and efficient activities, reliable of financial reports, appropriate state property management, and compliance with laws and regulations. The foundation of SPIP is human resources within the organization. Solid commitment from all elements within organization is required to run the SPIP effectively.

Improving Public Service

Government performance is measured by its public service quality. Public can directly assess the government's performance based on the service they receives. The quality of public services in all government institutions is obliged to be improved as stipulated in Law No. 25 of 2009, which explained that excellent service is fast, easy, cheap, and accountable. The public are also required in the efforts of improving public service quality. They are involved in policy making, defining service standard, public service satisfaction surveys, as well as complaints and appreciation. For boosting the public service improvement, the KemenPAN RB officially sets that 2014 is the year of public service innovation. All government agencies are expected to make a creative idea encouraging the public services. Hopefully, the BPS’ public service quality and innovation can continuously rise.