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n article titled '€œCivil Service Legislation: Waiting for Godot?'€ in the June 13, 2013 issue of The Jakarta Post stated: '€œUnlike the climax in Beckett'€™s drama, with the continued absence of Godot at the end of the play, for the sake of the Indonesian people it is hoped what they are waiting for will soon come true and the President will finally give his '€˜aye'€™ to an Indonesian civil service law for the 21st century.'€

A clear sign came when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gave his endorsement to the Indonesian civil service bill on June 14.

The bill had travelled a long and winding road before receiving presidential endorsement, starting around March or April in 2010, just a few months after the formation of Yudhoyono'€™s second rainbow Cabinet.  

On the contrary, the House of Representatives approved an initiative to propose the bill in a very short time, in less than seven months.  On July 25, 2011, a letter was sent to Yudhoyono requesting the government'€™s support for the bill. In the Indonesian system, the legislation of a bill requires mutual consent from the legislative and executive branches of power.    

However, the executive branch was less enthusiastic in supporting the bill despite the fact it was a top national priority. Even after the President'€™s strong endorsement, the top brass of related ministries and civil service agencies showed their reluctance to support the bill although they understood the urgency of a law to improve the country'€™s civil service.

It took the executive more than 30 months to decide on the bill and this progressed at a snail'€™s pace, involving more than 80 meetings.

Some of the meetings were, at the ministerial level, chaired by Vice President Boediono and senior officer meetings chaired by ministerial secretaries. A final decision on the bill was made almost six months after the President'€™s June 2013 endorsement.  

The legislation will be remembered as a legacy of President Yudhoyono when he, on Jan. 15, enacted Law No. 5/2014 on the Indonesian civil service.

New and very reformist civil service legislation has been born and this can be viewed as the first step in the long walk to transforming the Indonesian civil service into a world-class government administration more prepared to face challenges as the Asian Century looms.

Indonesian public services have long been infamous for their low performances, vulnerability to political intervention, endemic corruption and inefficiency.

To make them world-class and on par with those in more developed countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia needs to quickly build a dynamic and performance-oriented public service.

Theoretically, the new legislation applies more recent strategic human resource management thinking that views employees as the most important asset of an organization.  

Based on this rationale, the law then requires the application of merit principles in the recruitment, placement, promotion and recompense of public employees.

A new public service culture, morally driven and based on public responsibility, will be created in the Indonesian Public Service profession. These all are expected to substantially improve the performance of the civil service.

Here are some implications of the new law.

First, all jobs in state institutions in national, provincial and local governments will be known as the Indonesian Civil Service (ICS). Indonesian missions overseas are included. Those who work in the institutions will be called ICS employees.       

The ICS is legally declared a noble profession regulated under ICS norms, code of ethics and code of conduct, and is subject to sanctions. Punishments will be dealt out in where there are breaches of norms and the code of conduct.

The ICS will have two employment streams; contract-based Government Employees (PPPK) and civil servants (PNS).

PNS are ICS employees recruited by agency'€™s authorities to carry out policy implementation and the general administrative work of the government. PPPK are ICS employees who are recruited by agencies to
carry out the public service functions of the Indonesian government.     

The Indonesian public service will comprise three types of services: the Senior Leader Service (SLS), the General Administrative Service and the Special Functional Service.

The SLS comprises middle and top executives of the ICS elected to positions based on outstanding leadership skills, competence and knowledge.

A new independent body, the Indonesian Civil Service Commission (ICSC) of seven members representing the government, academia and civil society, will have oversight authority for the implementation of ICS norms and the code of ethics in all government agencies, and the application of the code of conduct by individual ICS employees.

The law mandated the formation of the ICSC within six months after it was enacted.

The compulsory retirement age will be extended from 56 to 58 years for staff members of the administrative service, 65 years for staff of the functional service, 70 years for professors and 60 years for senior executives.

A single scale salary scheme based on performance and responsibility will take effect in 2015. The new salary scale will lump basic salary, so-called remuneration, and other allowances into one salary. There will be no more '€œwet'€ and '€œdry'€ positions in the Indonesian public service.       

The new law also mandates the application of a new ICS pension scheme for contracted-based government employees recruited from 2014 onward.

A possibility would be to integrate this ICS pension system with the newly established National Social Security System (SJSN).

What will be the implications of this major reform initiative?

Maybe the final lines of Robert Frost'€™s poem The Road Not Taken give the nation a clue: '€œI took the one less travelled by/And that has made all the difference.'€

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The writer is a professor of public policy at Gadjah Mada University (UGM).