Authored by : Fitri Aulia & Mahrus Ali | 8 December 2020

The Current Status Quo

Debureaucratization means ‘the act or process of reducing slow and complicated work procedures in order to achieve results more effectively and efficiently’ (The Ministry of Education and Culture).

Currently, the policy of debureaucratization is reappearing with the plan to disband 29 state institutions starting from the late November 2020 until next year. The government has freshly announced the disband of 10 state institutions in 29 November 2020. Meanwhile, 19 other state institutions will be disbanded in 2021 because they are related to regulations that will be discussed first with the Indonesian Parliament.

History of Debureaucratization

The debureaucratization policy was first initiated during the Jokowi administration. Jokowi took steps to reform the economy through the launch of the Economic Policy Package in September 2015. As of June 2016, there have been 12 Economic Policy Packages (PKE), each of which seeks to resolve different policy issues.

Most of the reforms carried out through these policy packages seek to remove regulatory and bureaucratic obstacles that prevent the private sector from doing business efficiently, as well as provide investment incentives for private businesses in certain sectors.

The first policy package (the most comprehensive with the widest coverage) aims to increase the competitiveness of domestic industries, accelerate national strategic projects, and increase investment in the property sector. Two important steps in this package are deregulation and debureaucratization. Deregulation is carried out by conducting a comprehensive regulatory review, and eliminating regulations that are repetitive, unnecessary, overlapping, or irrelevant. Deregulation also seeks to improve coherence and consistency between regulations, especially those related to the economic sector. Meanwhile, debureaucratization includes simplification, delegation of authority, and electronization of sharing procedures for obtaining permits, in order to facilitate business actors to invest in Indonesia.

Jokowi’s deregulation and debureaucratization policies continued with the issuance of the Phase II Economic Policy Package. Unlike the Economic Policy Package I, which includes many regulations, this time the government focuses only on increasing investment. It takes the form of deregulation and debureaucratization of regulations to facilitate investment, both domestic investment (PMDN) and foreign investment (PMA).

Reasons of Debureaucratization (Debureaucratization Drive)

To produce policies for debureaucratization, the government has took careful and long considerations. Some of the debureaucratization drives are because there are needs to:

1. Minimize budget expenditures

According to Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister, Tjahjo Kumolo, reducing the number of auxiliary state bodies is necessary to prevent the government from overtaxing its budget. The more institutions there are, the more the budget must be allocated to each. Debureaucratization allows the government to focus its spending on institutions that are considered to be working effectively.

2. Eliminate inefficient institutions

One reason that is oftenly found is due to the ineffectiveness of an institution in achieving its goals. Thus, debureaucratization was carried out to eliminate such hamper. This was the case with the poor-coordinated Surabaya-Madura (Suramadu) Development Agency, established by Perpres in 2009. The agency which in charge of the economic development planning for the regions surrounding Suramadu Bridge – connecting Surabaya and the island of Madura- in East Java was later dissolved for the lack of its effectivity to reach its goal.

3. Increase the work effectivity

It is due to the overlapping tasks between the agency and ministries that makes it ineffective. If it can be done by one institution only, the others must be dissolved for the sake of effectiveness and budget savings. As for example, the government planned this year to dissolve the National Commission for the Elderly (Komnas Lansia) that was first established by presidential decree in 2004 by ex-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). The drive of this decision is because it is believed that the ministry covering the relevant jurisdiction (Social Affairs Ministry’s social services and rehabilitation directorate general) could take over its duties, which is to improve the wellbeing of the country’s elderly citizens.

Disbanded Institutions under Jokowi’s Government

Shortly after his inauguration in 2014, Jokowi disbanded 10 state bodies through Perpres No. 176/2014. The next year, he moved to dissolve an agency tasked with reducing greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation. He also disbanded the National Climate Change Council and returned its mandate to the Environment and Forestry Ministry. In 2016, he disbanded 10 more state bodies, and he shuttered the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency in 2017.

In July 2020, President Jokowi set out to disband a total of 18 state agencies that his administration had deemed ineffective or had responsibilities that overlapped with those of ministries under the Perpres No. 82/2020. The following are the state agencies that have been disbanded based on Presidential Regulation No. 82/2020:

1. Creative Industry Transparency Team.
2. National Coordinating Agency for Agricultural, Fisheries and Forestry Extension.
3. Committee for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (KP3EI) 2011-2025.
4. Sunda Strait Strategic Area and Infrastructure Development Agency (BUKSISS).
5. National Coordinating Team for Mangrove Ecosystem Management.
6. Agency for the Improvement of the Implementation of the Drinking Water Supply System (BPPSPAM).
7. Steering Committee for the Road Map of the Electronic-Based National Trade System (e-Commerce Road Map) 2017-2019.
8. Task Force for Accelerating Undertaking Implementation.
9. The Coordinating Team for Monitoring and Evaluation of Providing Guarantee and Interest Subsidies to PDAMs in the Context of Accelerating Drinking Water Supply.
10. Overseas Commercial Loan Team.
11. National Team for Multilateral Trade Negotiations within the Framework of the World Trade Organization.
12. PT (Persero) State Electricity Company Restructuring and Rehabilitation Team.
13. Financial Sector Policy Committee.
14. Interdepartmental Committee on Forestry.
15. Coordination Team for Improving the Smooth Flow of Export and Imported Goods.
16. National Team to Increase Exports and Increase Investment (Timnas PEPI).
17. Coordination Team for the Acceleration of Construction of Flats in Urban Areas.
18. National Committee on Preparation for the Implementation of the Economic Community Association of Southeast Asian Nations

REFERENCES

Gumelar, G. (2020, November 24). The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from The Jakarta Post: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/11/23/government-to-dissolve-29-more-state-bodies-in-2021-debureaucratization-drive.html

Kompas. (2020, July 21). Kompas.com. Retrieved from Kompas.com: https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2020/07/21/103100965/lebih-dekat-dengan-tugas-dan-fungsi-18-lembaga-yang-telah-dibubarkan-jokowi?page=all

Lokadata. (2020, November 20). Lokadata. Retrieved from Lokadata: https://lokadata.id/artikel/presiden-jokowi-akan-bubarkan-29-lembaga-negara

Ministry of Education and Culture. (n.d.). Badan Bahasa Kemdikbud. Retrieved from Badan Bahasa Kemdikbud.

Ministry of Information and Communication. (2015, Oktober 8). KOMINFO. Retrieved from Berita Pemerintahan: https://www.kominfo.go.id/content/detail/6101/paket-kebijakan-ekonomi-jilid-ii/0/berita

Suancana, G. (2018). Debirokratisasi dan Pentingnya. Bali Membangun Bali, 184.