Open or Perish

Posted by AsiaViews | Dec 18, 2017 | 0 |

The Jakarta Post

14 Dec 2017
Throughout most of its modern history, bureaucracy in Indonesia has operated under the shroud of secrecy. In the late period of the New Order regime, bureaucracy’s key role was aiding and abetting the unchecked collection of rent from the economy to benefit members of the ruling elite, while at the same time, controlling the lives of average people.

The most well-known joke from those tired of red-tape under the New Order regime was, “If the bureaucracy can make it difficult, why should it make things easier?”

Reformasi (Reformation), which marked an end to the New Order in 1998, was campaigned to put a stop to the practice. One of the first initiatives rolled out during the early Reformasi era was bureaucratic reform aimed at achieving an accessible, accountable and open government. Starting in the early 2000s, both the central and local governments took initiatives to promote transparency.

Enlightened local leaders, like East Java’s Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini, created in 2012 an electronic budgeting system, popularly known as e-budgeting, which was later adopted by the Jakarta administration under the leadership of then-governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama. Under the e-budgeting system in Jakarta, online software is used to write the city budget and only selected officials can access the system to make changes.

Also introduced in 2013 was LAPOR! (Report!), a public service complaint system through which citizens could go online to air their grievances on numerous issues, from neighborhood garbage collection to endemic corruption.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has also made transparency and open government his main campaign promise. In the past three years, Jokowi continued rolling out reform packages that would, in the end, enable him set up a single-submission system for all types of business and investment permits.

Having done all these, it seems fitting that at the international level, Indonesia could take the initiative to promote open government. Indonesia was one of eight countries that initiated the establishment of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in 2011. The OGP is a platform of cooperation for civil society to exchange experience, knowledge, benefits and greater opportunities for more open practices.

On Thursday, Indonesia joined 14 Asia-Pacific members of the OGP to discuss ways to implement transparency and principles of good governance at the 2017 Asia Pacific Leaders Forum (APLF) on Open Government.

The meeting comes at a crucial time when the world is undergoing a sweeping change that could affect how governments conduct their business, which is delivering public services to all without hassle. Especially for Indonesia, this means overhauling its bureaucratic culture from pangreh praja (ruler) to pamong praja (public servant). An open government is unavoidable. The growing power of the internet has made it very difficult for those in power or the wealthy to hide wrongdoings and assets. Wikileaks, the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers are testaments to the rising demand for transparency, now that the world is turning flat.

Governments, including that of Indonesia, has no choice but to advance openness, or else they will perish.

(http://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2017/12/14/editorial-open-or-perish.html)

About The Author

AsiaViews

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Neigborhood Watch

Subscribe To Newsletter

POINTS TO PONDER

EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

Open or Perish