YOGYAKARTA – Law on the Civil Service will be changed. The existing law is deemed incompatible with the changing demands of improving the competence and performance of civil servants to promote loyalty and devotion to the state.
The existing law on Civil Service, Law No. 8 of 1974, which has been converted into Law No. 43 of 1999 on the Principles of Civil Service makes the employees not wanting from increasing work performance, because the position would come by itself as time goes by. "What matters is civil service is not seen as a profession. Therefore, the qualification and competence of civil servants do not fit the demands," Dr. Gamari Sutrisno, the member of Commission II of the House of Representatives and a member of the Committee of Civil State Apparatus Bill, said in the discussion on Civil State Apparatus Bill in the Master of Public Administration (MAP) Building UGM, Thursday (29/11). Attending the discussion were Deputy Minister of State Apparatus, Prof. Dr. Eko Prasodjo, and the Head of the National Institute of Administration (LAN), Prof. Dr. Agus Dwiyanto.
Civil State Apparatus Bill enforces recruitment and competency-based promotion system of civil state apparatus which is transparent, served by centralization. Thus, it encourages mobility of personnel between regions and between the central and local governments. The bill arranges a performance-based payment system in which the basic salary is greater than the allowance. "The salary is adjusted to be not too different from salaries at private companies. The salary is in accordance with the workload and responsibility borne by the employee," he said.
He said currently the state apparatus consists of the country's military officials, police officers and civil state apparatus. The composition of the state apparatus is 4.3 million civil servants or 87 percent of the total personnel, 330 thousand members of the TNI or 6 percent, and 360 thousand members of the police or 7 percent. A large number of civil servants often becomes political interests. For example, a regional leader could assign his/her people in certain positions for the benefit of their group, not for the interests of the State. "What emerges is a successful team, even if they are not competent," he said.
Head of the National Institute of Administration, Prof. Dr. Agus Dwiyanto, said the bill would bring about a change in the implementation of bureaucratic reform forward though it likely will lead to the pros and cons in the future. However, to improve the performance of the bureaucracy and public services, Agus said, the bill needs to be passed quickly by the House. "We need a world-class bureaucracy and human resources in public sector in order to improve the competitiveness of the nation on par with that in developed countries," he said.