Bill on Public Services - Passes the DPR

All good things are worth waiting for, at least that is how the saying goes. The Bill on Public services has been winding its way through the legislative process for nigh on four years and was finally passed unanimously on 23 June 2009 by the House of Representatives (DPR). There is also little doubt that there is a general belief within the community that public services are less than optimal, in fact sub-standard, in most cases. Therefore, the very basic premise of the bill was to draft a piece of legislation that would facilitate a significant improvement in the quality of the services Indonesians were receiving.

The bill is expected to accommodate these visions of the future and to regulate interactions between public servants and those that utilize public services. In essence, the bill is designed to drive up public trust in public servants, the public services provided, and the means to rectify situations where public services fail to meet public expectations.

The definition of public services and those that provide them is broad. A public service is defined as any activity or series of activities that provide a publicly available service to a citizen or legal resident. These public services may relate to goods, services, and / or administrative services provided by public servants. Meanwhile, public servants include public service administrators (government bodies, State-Owned Companies, and private bodies, among others) and the individuals tasked with directly providing the public service, namely: office staff.

The bill includes 62 Articles and essentially sets out the following provisions, among others:

Interestingly, the final point above is indicative of a much more fundamental role in the provision of public service being attributed to the public. Simply, Chapter VI of the bill envisages that in many respects the public will have a say in what public services are provided and how they are to be provided.

In addition, the bill also provides for a complaint mechanism that involves the public service administrators, Ombudsman, and the legislature at every level. Each of the mechanisms is further elaborated in Chapter VII.

The bill makes available eight types of sanctions where the provisions are breached. The available sanctions are warnings, suspensions from duties, salary reductions for a certain period of time, demotions, honorable dismissal, dishonorable dismissal, freezing of licenses, and license cancellation (Article 54).

The bill comes into immediate force once it is enacted. Enactment requires the signature of the President. If the President fails to sign the bill into law then the bill will self-enact after 30 days pursuant to the 1945 Constitution.