IO – President Joko Widodo states that we must utilize the momentum of the pandemic to generate fundamental changes, mutating from ordinary means to extraordinary ones. Therefore, the Government will accelerate bureaucratic and structural reforms amid the current COVID-19 pandemic. “We can no longer delay structural reforms. Complicated regulations that confuse people and obstruct creativity at work must be shortened and simplified. Fat, overlapping, and inefficient Governmental institutions must be simplified and slimmed down, so that all functions are integrated properly,” he said in his address during the 49th anniversary celebration of the Indonesian Civil Servants Corps (Korps Pegawai Republik Indonesia – “Korpri”) broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube Channel on Sunday (29/11/2020).
Therefore, the long chain of echelons must be cut down, in order to speed up decision-making. Long and rigid SOPs must be shortened and be made more flexible and result- oriented. Consequently, the competence of the State Civil Apparatus (Aparatur Sipil Negara – “ASN”) must be adjusted. “The ASN must continue to perform their duties to the nation properly at the same time. They are present throughout Indonesia, even in the smallest hamlets in the most remote corners of the nation, even to the areas along the borders. They unite the nation through their services. It is through them that we can implement the values of Pancasila. Their loyal efforts to protect the Integrated Republican Nation of Indonesia by executing its laws, protecting the values of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika or Unity in Diversity, of tolerance, of harmony, means that they are the ones who run the engines of development in Indonesia. They are the ones who inform the people of national development program priorities, the ones who are active in educating the masses, providing the people with exemplars. They are the motors that run development and change among our people, especially for those living in remote and borderline areas,” he said. (dan)