Jakarta - Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia (The Partnership). On February 5th, 2010, The Partnership launched an umbrella program to strengthen an accountable democracy in Indonesia, titled ”Leveraging and Educating Accountable Democracy in Indonesia” or LEAD.
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) marked the launch and implementation of this program. This was completed by all parties, i.e. The Partnership, Bappenas (National Development Planning Agency), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government’s Procurement Policy Institution (LKPP), Papua Provincial Government, Indonesian Community for Democracy (KID), and Association for Community Empowerment (ACE).
The Partnership Executive Director, Wicaksono Sarosa, in his speech stated that Indonesia as a nation has entered the gate of democracy, and it must transform its procedural democracy to substantive democracy for the people’s welfare.
“To avoid the endless road of transition period, Indonesia needs to complete its democracy transition period soon,” he said.
The Partnership’s Chief of Public Service Governance Cluster and also the designer of LEAD Indonesia, Agung Djojosoekarto, in his presentation explained four main reasons behind the designing of LEAD program.
First, procedural democracy that hardly functions has been worsened by anti-democratic movements or practices;
Second, the lack of integrity and accountability in the systems and structure of governance cannot fulfill the rights of the people to basic services;
Third, inconsistent designs and implementations of policies on decentralisation and regional autonomy has hampered effective governance at national and local levels;
Fourth, in many governmental and representation agencies, gender balance and fairness have not been fully addressed.
“Indonesia’s procedural democracy is still unable to produce qualified and KKN-free (KKN: corruption, collusion and nepotism) political leadership and government structure, or pro-poor affordable public service system, or integrity system that is capable of preventing corruption,” Djokosoekarto asserted. ““The LEAD Program is specifically designed to respond to challenges in developing democracy, decentralized governance and accountable and just development,” he continued.
On the same note with Djojosoekarto, The Minister of Home Affairs, Gamawan Fauzi expressed that final goal of democracy must benefit the interests of the majority of the people as well as offering welfare and the promotion of justice for all Indonesians.
“It is difficult to understand if certain groups use democracy for their own benefit or goals that are not in line with the interests of the people,” he asserted.
In relation to the National Long Term Development Plan 2005 – 2025, mainly on the development of political sector, The State Minister of National Development Planning/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Armida S. Alisjahbana, said that in 2025, hopefully Indonesia could reach the so-called consolidated democracy.
“We hope the Program could become a good model for cooperation in developing more substantive democracy in Indonesia,” she said.
Present as the speaker on the discussion sessions were: Partnership Senior Adviser, Prof. Dr. Ramlan Surbakti,; Commissioner of Corruption Eradication Commission, M.Jasin; and, Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Science at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Prof. Dr. Pratikno. The discussion was moderated by Head of TIRI Indonesia, Kevin Evans.
M. Jasin, in his presentation, stated the importance of building a strong national integrity system with a good relationship linked to the corruption eradication movement in Indonesia. In the national integrity system, Jasin added, there are several main pillars of support, one of which is the Anti-corruption agency. The inadequate regulations on corruption eradication, permissive attitude toward corruption, the governance of the state, the market systems, and the attitude of the people that do not respect the values of good governance, are some of the factors that has hampered the movement of corruption eradication in Indonesia.
The program itself starts from 2010 and ends in 2014. The program comprises of sixteen projects with the coverage to almost all provinces and municipalities in Indonesia. The establishment of 12 democracy schools in five provinces and a program to reform the governance system at the village level are among two of the sixteen projects. The Program’s total budget is in the amount of USD 50 million. The Program has received financial assistance from the Government of the Netherlands in total of USD 16 million and the Government of Denmark in total of USD 500 thousand. The Partnership has also received USD 9 million from other donors to fund the program. National and local government has showed their willingness to fund projects that are parallel with the Program.
