PANRB Minister awaits results of bureaucracy simplification studies

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (PANRB) Minister Tjahjo Kumolo is awaiting the results of studies from each ministry and non-ministerial government institutions regarding the simplification of the bureaucracy by trimming echelons 3 and 4 in ministries and state institutions.

"Our team has prepared (a concept) and we have explained it to all secretaries-general and agency secretaries, including the military/police. There will be feedback," Kumolo said after a meeting with Vice President, Ma'ruf Amin, in Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to Kumolo, the study was conducted to find out how urgent the positions of echelons III and IV are in order to be eliminated from ministries and state institutions.

The research needs to be done because each ministry and institution has different needs for echelon positions.

"There are ministries with thousands of work units, such as the Ministry of Religion, the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, head of immigration, head of prison, sub-district head, and village head. Those cannot be compared with echelons, "he said.

Trimming echelons, in addition to echelons I and II, he said, requires in-depth research considering there are several positions in regional institutions that are equivalent to echelons III and IV.

"But it is not possible to completely remove certain positions, such as the position of the sub-district head and village head," the minister said.

The structural positions of the sub-district head and village head cannot be replaced by functional positions because they have the authority to coordinate with subordinates.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) was previously willing to simplify the bureaucracy by trimming echelons 3 and 4 in ministries and state institutions.

"Echelons must be simplified. Echelon I, echelon II, echelon III, echelon IV – isn’t that too many? I ask that this be simplified to only two levels, replaced by functional positions that value skill and competence," President Joko Widodo said in his inauguration speech.

The president also asked the ministers, officials and bureaucrats to seriously guarantee the achievement of the goals of development programs.

"I will not have any mercy for those who are not serious. I guarantee that I will remove them," he stated.

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Reporter: Fransiska, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Suharto