Futuristic civil service management in Singapore was initiated by Lee Kuan Yew. To suppress corruption and attract professionals, the Government offered attractive salaries and remuneration for public officers. Singapore’s less-than-favorable fiscal condition was not an excuse to hinder bureaucratic reform on civil servants’ welfare.
The civil service positions could be occupied by non-Singaporean citizens. The Public Service Commission (PSC) – Singapore’s KASN – was empowered as a vanguard to safeguard meritocracy.
The role of KASN is like the video assistant referee (VAR) in soccer; it meticulously examines whether a violation occurs. The disbandment of KASN will set a bad precedent in the growth process of the bureaucracy. KASN should not only be preoccupied with issues of civil service impartiality and selection of high officials.
The meritocracy problem of ASN management in Indonesia is very complex. A World Bank study (2018) even notes that the civil service career of women and religious minorities have regressed since democratization in 1999.
Contextual Bureaucratic Transformation
The computer-assisted test (CAT) has been applied in Indonesia since 2013, making transparent ASN recruitment possible. CAT was listed in the top ten innovations in public sector management by the World Bank in 2018. Therefore, contextual bureaucratic reform must be conducted. First, modernizing the ASN recruitment system.
It is necessary to update the substance and model of the test, trace the portfolio, especially candidates’ experience and competence, and hold recruitment on a regular basis (anytime), especially for groups of experts (pro-hired), conduct a talent search (headhunt) at higher education institutions and optimize talents from the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) scholarship graduates.
The affirmative ASN recruitment policy needs to be expanded, not only for Papua natives, persons with disabilities, diaspora, ace students (based on a cum laude GPA) and K2 honorarium-based staff but also for people in frontier, outermost and underdeveloped regions, so that the ASN disproportion can be overcome.
National affirmative formation needs to be made possible, such as for Chinese, Indian and other ethnicities rarely seen working in the public sector. This needs to be addressed to popularize the function of ASN to connect and unite the nation.
Second, talent management and bureaucratic regeneration. The scarcity of qualified human resources in a government agency, especially local government, can be solved by a national talent pool.
For example, the head position of Regional Development Agency (Bappeda) in Puncak Regency, Central Papua Province, can be filled by the best ASN from the Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency, whose competence and performance in development planning and budgeting have been verified. Not only does it encourage regional development, but it can also produce the best bureaucrats in the future.