JAKARTA — Civil society organizations see that during the first year of Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla tenure the commitment to implement the Open Government Partnership (OGP) tends to decline. Though Indonesia is one of OGP initiators, until this very moment, the Government is yet to create a clear policy to concretely carry out the OGP initiative.
Ilham Saenong from the Transparency International Indonesia (TII) stated that OGP is a multilateral initiative focusing on realizing a transparent, accountable, and responsive government particularly in providing public necessities. However, since the government declared the President’s Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4) dissolution last year, there has been no institution replacing the position of UKP4 as the OGP initiative leading agency. “Consequently, transparency and openness programs were not well implemented, nor well-coordinated. Even in certain cases the steps taken by the government did not meet the principles of openness which eventually leads to the slow efforts to eradicate corruption,” said Ilham.
Mujtaba Hamdi from Perkumpulan Media Lintas Komunitas (MediaLink) added that the nine priorities agenda (Nawacita) and the National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) only are not enough to show the government’s commitment to implement the open government principles. “It is stated in Nawacita that the government are committed to make an effective, clean, and democratic governance a reality, but it will be nothing but an empty hope considering their unwillingness to implement the OGP initiative. Until today, the President and the Vice President have not given any comment regarding Indonesia’s position in OGP”, he said. He said, it is clearly stated in the 2015-2019 RPJMN that there will be an open government mainstreaming in Indonesian governance. “Nevertheless, the RPJMN will only be a “dead document” if the government does not actualize it into a concrete policy or real practice”, Mujtaba asserted.
Furthermore, Beka Ulung Hapsara from International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) explained that the OGP initiative has been managed informally by three government institutions; they are the President Staff Office, National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “However, those institutions work without any clear legal protection. It is ironic that the initiative which promises us clean and effective governance is managed like nothing but a small community without any legal framework”, he emphasized. He said, if the President is serious about his willingness to implement the OGP initiative, he should publish a presidential decree or presidential instruction which specifically mandated the OGP initiative management. Moreover, the principals of OGP should be reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation. “Without the legal framework, OGP is like a ‘haunted spirit’ who does not have any definitive body. Because of this, the SDGs will be implemented without the government transparency and the participation of the civil society will be unorganized,” Beka added.
Meanwhile, Nanda Sihombing from Center for Regional Information and Studies (PATTIRO) explained that Indonesia has been becoming the center of world attention regarding its involvement in the OGP initiative. “Indonesia was re-elected to be the OGP Steering Committee for the next three years. Indonesia is expected to take the roles to influence other Asia Pacific countries to join the OGP. It will be ironic if Indonesia is not able to able to give good examples”, she asserted.
Open Government Partnership was established on September 20, 2011 by 8 initiator countries Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Philippines, and South Africa. Now, the number of the OGP participating countries has grown from 8 to 65 countries in 2015.
This article is publised in Bahasa Indonesia in
BeritaSatu.com with the title Setahun Pemerintahan Jokowi-JK, Komitmen “Open Government Partnership” Merosot
