The working period of tens of thousands of professional village assistants will ended on March 31 2016. The government has started to move to carry out re-recruitment. Unfortunately, this recruitment actually resulted in chaos and mutual accusations. There are parties who feel that this was deliberately done by the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Kemendes PDTT) to remove these parties from the village. There are also those who accuse that there has been politicization in the process of selecting professional village assistants.
In fact, according to PATTIRO Executive Director Sad Dian Utomo, this commotion would not need to occur if the government was able to convince the public, especially village assistants, that the system and governance that will be used in the process of recruiting village assistants is transparent and accountable. “Before you start recruiting, you should open everything first so the public knows, starting from the registration schedule and carrying out written tests and interviews. “The test materials must also be informed to prospective village assistants for the coming period,” said Sad Dian.
He explained that in the registration process, the government must inform the registration mechanism used in the recruitment process. If registration is done online, the government must notify prospective registrants where they can access it. If done offline, the registration location must also be provided.
“During the registration of village assistants in early 2016, the online registration system often had problems, the server often went down. So, if prospective village assistants experience this again, they can immediately report it to the party appointed by the government to handle this problem. “So the government must not forget to establish a mechanism for this,” said Sad Dian.
The government must also provide space for civil society to participate in monitoring whether the complaints submitted by prospective village assistants are actually followed up and produce results. For this reason, according to Sad Dian, the Indonesian Village Development Working Group (PDMI) should be able to take a proactive role by creating and proposing guidelines regarding public involvement in this recruitment process. The aim is for the community to know and understand their roles in supervising recruitment so that they will get the best village assistants.
If there is a written test, Sad Dian said, the government should detail and inform prospective village assistants what material will be tested.
“Before the written test is held, prospective assistants should be informed of the material that will be tested. That way, the implementation of the written test will be fairer because it will be known to all test takers. “Healthy competition can also be created,” he added.
Likewise if there is an interview test stage. Sad Dian explained that what really needs to be transparent at this stage is the criteria that the government requires from village assistants. Selection team members must also have clear track records.
Sad Dian added that civil society could also be involved as supervisors of the recruitment process. “The interview test should be open so that the public can attend and monitor directly,” explained Sad Dian.
Sad Dian said that the selection team does not need to worry that information in the interview test will be misused by the public. “Don’t be afraid of secrets that will be revealed. “If there is something sensitive in nature and you are worried that the information conveyed in the interview will be misused, just emphasize that if there are parties who act in this way, they will be subject to criminal sanctions,” he said.
In order for the recruitment process to run more smoothly, prejudice or prejudice between village assistants from the National Community Empowerment Program (PNPM) and non-PNPM village assistants must be eliminated. “Don’t assume that PNPM is complicated because it is too administrative, because there are not a few qualified PNPM village assistants. “PNPM village assistants also don’t need to reject this new recruitment, because if they are truly qualified, they will definitely be elected again,” concluded Sad Dian.
To avoid such presumptions, said Sad Dian, the government should clarify what capacities villages need so that the capacity of village assistants can be adjusted. “The government should also not think about looking for “ready-made” village assistants. The government will also have to provide regular training and capacity building for new village assistants. “This is also the task of the Ministry of Villages PDTT after the assistants are selected,” he stressed.
This article was published in Rakyat Merdeka Online with the title Rekrut Ulang Pendamping Desa Tak Perlu Gaduh Jika Transparan dan Akuntabel.
