Desire for Optimal Public Service in DIY

If we try to see the general problems that are crucial in Indonesia now, there are various phenomena below. First, events of corruption, collusion and nepotism are recorded as the most corrupt countries in Asia. This practice is so massive that it occurs in all levels, both the executive and other parties. Second, Indonesia still has the lowest Human Development Indicator ranking, ranking 111th in the world in 2004. Third, that the cost of living is felt by the community to be expensive, especially by the majority of the population from rural areas and the urban poor. All of these things can be used as a reflection of the relationship between the implementation of public services in a country. So it is not strange if you often hear in the media about various cases ranging from the difficulty of citizens getting access to services and the poor quality of service by apparatus/agencies in many sectors. While the notion of public service (public) is all forms of public service activities carried out by government agencies and BUMN/BUMD in the form of goods and services in an effort to fulfill community needs and provisions of laws and regulations (SK Menpan 81/1993).
 

The reality of public services carried out by the government and its staff so far has not met the expectations of the community. This condition is not much different from the implementation of public services that are felt in DIY, although there are City Regencies that receive certain awards. The position of the community is still in a weaker condition in the face of the apparatus and the bureaucracy. If there are deviations or problems in public services, the community more often receives "defeat" due to the actions of the apparatus and the various regulations that apply. Fundamentally, good and quality public services are part of the human rights of every citizen. Apart from that, it can also be said that good public service is an effort to create good governance & clean government. As a consequence, the state must continuously strive to guarantee optimal service provision and protection of the rights of every member of society in public services.

 

At this time what is interesting is the case that regions in Indonesia are starting to have a kind of "competition" and "race" between regional governments to make policy changes related to public services. The change was driven by various factors. The hope is that the main motivating factor is to fulfill the obligations of the state and to achieve the welfare of its people. It is not uncommon to find efforts to improve public services because of pragmatic reasons for local leaders to achieve image-popularity or simply to comply with market demands that benefit some users of public services, namely large capital owners. The question is which of the strategic issues of public service in Yogyakarta receive the main attention of stakeholders?

Basic Service Options
As a cliché answer to the issue of strategic public service is an issue that prioritizes and improves the service sector which directly influences and is felt on the welfare of many people. More specifically, we should immediately prioritize several pressing problems, namely issues related to basic services and issues of equity and justice. Of course these choices also depend on conditions, perspectives and partisan commitments of policy makers who determine policy directions. The following three things serve as the basic reference for the policy directions taken into consideration:

1. The government believes more in market mechanisms or more in social. In reality, policy makers rarely pay attention to the implementation and impact of this belief. It is often found that the products of policies are unclear, whether they have more social value for the benefit of the people or follow market mechanisms that provide more flexibility for investors and economic progress.
2. Are policy makers more towards equity egalitarian (fair and equitable regardless of differences in economic status) or equity libertan (fair according to ability to pay). This consideration is important because it will have an impact on our moral choice of public service. It seems difficult for a public service to fulfill both of these equities simultaneously, the regional government in DIY needs to prioritize which one.
3. Technical aspects include infrastructure, the percentage of the population who work formally, the average income of the population in a country, the readiness of human resources, and community cultural factors will also determine it.    

If our choice of general reference is on social values, egalitarian equity and takes into account the general conditions in DIY, then basic services (education, health and social welfare) will be a priority for efforts to improve public services. The implementation of the improvement in basic services will be expressed in three main aspects, namely budget allocation, sources of funds and efficiency. In addition, basic services that are classified as "public goods" must protect disadvantaged groups which are manifested in a guarantee of access for every citizen, so the integration between planning and financing
The fact is that countries that are not rich tend to get more health funding from the public, except for Cuba. Rich countries tend to have more health funding sources from the government, except the US. In general, in less wealthy countries there are still problems of difficulty accessing health services and low quality of health services. Meanwhile, basic services, health and education are increasingly shifting to commodity goods that lead to the market. Hospitals and schools towards socio-economic organizations that lead to competition and progress, on the other hand, can distance themselves from aspects of equity and justice.

 The state is obliged to fulfill rights and provide basic public services in the form of education, health and social welfare services. In Article 31 paragraph 1 of the Amendments to the 1945 Constitution states: Every citizen has the right to education, and paragraph 2 states that every citizen is obliged to attend basic education and the government is obliged to finance it. Next, the rules in the health sector are emphasized in Article 28 H of the 1945 Constitution, which reads...live in physical and spiritual prosperity, have a place to live, get a good and healthy environment and have the right to obtain health services". The government seeks and organizes a national education system (faith, piety, noble character and educating the nation) and a national health system. The state prioritizes the education budget (20%) and seeks health 15% (MPR Decree). In terms of fulfilling community social welfare, it is regulated in Article 34, paragraph (1) which states: The poor and neglected children are cared for by the state” and paragraph (2) states, the State develops a social security system for all people and empowers the weak. and unable to live up to human dignity. According to the provisions above, we can see together that the obligatory affairs of government, both on a national and provincial or district/city scale, are related to basic services, namely: education, health, and fulfillment of the welfare of its citizens.

While the conditions for achieving optimal basic services are available and sustainable: basic services are not difficult to find. Services must be acceptable and reasonable and not conflict with the customs, culture and beliefs of the community. Location, distribution, and facilities need to be taken into account in public services so that they are more easily accessible or reached at a cost according to the ability of the community. And it is no less important that the quality aspect must pay attention to the level of service perfection, meaning satisfaction with ethical procedures and established standards.
Problems with health services that are currently still occurring in DIY, in particular, are the validity of the data, difficult services, and socialization of the program. The DIY Regional Government already has a Social Health Insurance Administration Agency that seeks to provide guarantees and improve basic health services for poor and vulnerable citizens. The community hopes that in the implementation there will be no difficulties in obtaining services from health providers. Indeed, sometimes it is difficult to assess the quality of public services because they are in the form of services. Hopefully DIY will have more confidence and commitment to policies based on social values.

Problems with education services from the experience of the Regional Ombudsman in 2006, among others, in the Admission of New Students (PSB), some earthquake victims and their takin were still withdrawn by schools. Communities still perceive the lack of transparency and accountability of schools and school committees. There are no standards for preparing budgets (School Expenditures Budget) and standard rules for withdrawing student guardian funds. This issue culminates more in the problem of equal distribution of access and justice in education services. So the next time it is necessary to encourage a policy from the Government to overcome this. It is very positive if a Governor/Mayor/Regent Regulation is issued as soon as possible as the Government's response to improving education services. The community is even waiting for certainty to be born in the form of a regional regulation on the administration of education, in order to provide more guarantees for access and quality of education services for all.

Experts see that there has been a shift in the paradigm of public service from the traditional public administration model (old public administration) to a new public management model (new public management) and finally towards a new public service model (new public service). New Public Service based on democratic theory, public interest is the result of dialogue about various values, responsive to various existing public interests and values ​​and is responsible to citizens as well as accountability for multiple aspects; accountable to law, community values, political norms, professional standards, citizen interests.