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Indonesian Ombudsman: Between reality and possibility
The enforcement of law and democracy resilience can be achieved in a convergent manner through mutually empowering processes, which include the ombudsman's role in overseeing public services based on public complaints related to maladministration.
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An Ombudsman Indonesia building. (tribunnews.com/File)
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epresenting Indonesian Ombudsman, I attended the International Conference of Ombudsman in Rome on Sept. 21-22, which was titled “The Role of Ombudsman in the World: Between Reality and Possibility”.
I consider the last phrase, “between reality and possibility”, key to the conference’s theme. It suggests that ombudsman institutions worldwide have viable options to shape future trajectories. Indeed, when making decisions, it is crucial to consider various factors, including current and potential external and internal challenges.
For the last few years, the world has been facing multiple crises in various sectors, ranging from recurring financial crises to the alarming rate of climate change. These phenomena remind us that multi-crises potential could pose serious threats that affect the resilience and welfare of the global population in the future.
To deal with this, it is important to foster citizen trust and enhance democratic resilience since the level of satisfaction with administrative services is the most important determinant of growing public trust in government.
The approach to democratic resilience aligns with the ombudsmen’s function in overseeing public services. Democratic resilience aims to maintain high-quality institutions, ensure representative and participatory governance, respect basic rights of citizens, monitor government actions and support impartial administration.
Trust in government institutions is crucial for democratic resilience. Law enforcement and resilient democracy can be achieved in a convergent manner through mutually empowering processes, which include the ombudsmen's role in overseeing public services based on public complaints related to maladministration.
Indonesia has embraced democracy since 1999, and has taken significant steps to improve the resilience of its democracy, including forming comprehensive electoral bodies, conducting direct elections on local, regional and national levels and establishing new state institutions such as the Corruption Eradication Commission and the Indonesian Ombudsman in 2000.
