T

he new State Civil Apparatus (ASN) Law will bring about significant changes in the Jakarta administration'€™s bureaucracy as it will allow the governor to demote or dismiss under-performing civil servants and recruit professionals to fill certain posts.

Jakarta Employment Agency (BKD) head I Made Karmayoga said on Tuesday that the law, which was approved on Jan. 15, would change the career system at the administration.

'€œOne of the crucial changes is the ability to demote or dismiss a civil servant whose performance is not up to standard,'€ he said.

According to Article 77 of the law, a civil servant whose performance does not meet a set target will face sanctions including termination of employment.

Made said that in the old regulation, officials who held certain ranks and positions could keep them even though they performed badly.

'€œIt was so hard to fire them without strong reasons like a criminal conviction, suffering from chronic ailments or prolonged study leave.'€

He added that senior staff usually could only be transferred to another position of the same rank.

Made said the law also obliged the city administration to intensify monitoring of the performance of its employees. '€œWe will examine personal achievements daily so that civil servants cannot just come in and sit all day long,'€ he said, adding that performance would also affect allowance payments.

Made said the law also allowed Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo to hire non-civil servants such as professionals and academics to hold certain positions like agency heads.

According to Article 109, the position of heads of middle and high rank can be filled by non-civil servants with the approval of the President. The competition to achieve the position should be conducted openly and competitively. The decision should be authorized in a Presidential Decree. '€œWe are now familiarizing the new law among the civil service,'€ Made said.

Made said the city administration had already been practicing the principles of the law by conducting open-call recruitment for subdistricts and district heads, school principals and community health center (puskesmas) administrators.

Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama previously expressed his satisfaction with the new law. Ahok, claiming that he had input into the ASN Law, said he and the governor often felt trapped by red tape as they could not fire under-performing officials.

Ahok said some agency heads had poor work ethics as they knew that they could not be fired. '€œWith the new law, they must watch their performances,'€ he said.

University of Indonesia'€™s (UI) public policy expert Andrinof Chaniago said the law was a breakthrough for bureaucracy reform.

Andrinof said the authority to hire non civil servants for certain positions, for example, could encourage civil servants who got used to the slow bureaucratic system to work more efficiently and faster. '€œMost regional administrations lack staff who have managerial skills,'€ he said.

He said if the law was implemented well, the public would see the results in the future. '€œWe cannot rely on the existing generation as they are derived from the old regime. We cannot really do anything to fix their work ethic or culture,'€ he said.

He added, however, that the city administration could pin their hopes on the newly recruited employees. '€œIf we recruit them through a good procedure and keep them away from old habits, we will have a better generation of civil servants in the next 10 years,'€ he said.