The level of community satisfaction in accessing public services in Surakarta is considered low. This assessment emerged based on research conducted by the Center for Research and Regional Information (PATTIRO) Solo over the past few months. PATTIRO Solo activist, Alif Basuki, said that they had conducted research on 300 respondents. “We obtained field data through in-depth interviews,” he said in Surakarta, Thursday, November 8, 2012.

From the results of this study, more than 50 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with public services in Surakarta. In fact, around 85 respondents admitted that they did not know their rights as stated in the Law on Public Services. “This shows that the government has not properly socialized it to the community level,” said Alif.

According to Alif, most of the public’s complaints are the inaccuracy of service time in obtaining permits and other documents. “Often delayed from the promised time,” he said. These conditions make people have to spend more time to take care of it.

In addition, many people complain about the uncertainty of the cost of services. Even though most of these costs have been determined through regional regulations. “But many are not well socialized,” he said.

Some respondents also complained about the ability of officers who were considered incompetent in carrying out their duties to serve the community. This condition is further exacerbated by the inconvenient public service buildings. “So far, people have only kept all these complaints,” said Alif. This is because the government does not provide adequate complaint channels.

During this November, PATTIRO plans to hold a mobile complaint activity to a number of crowd centers. “We will circulate complaint boxes during Motor Vehicle Free Day activities, Balekambang Park, Ngarsapura area and several other locations,” he said.

The head of the Surakarta City Regional Development Planning Agency, Anung Indro Susanto, questioned the parameters used in the survey. “Because, so far we have operational procedures that we always comply with,” he said.

The government has also provided a complaint channel that can be accessed by the wider community. “There is even a direct complaint service to the mayor via SMS gateway,” said Anung. He stated that he had responded to all public complaints through the facilities that were available properly.