In relation to corruption prevention efforts, the Government of Indonesia continues to promote bureaucratic reforms in the public sector, one of which is through the management of complaints. Currently the Government has developed a National Public Service Complaint Management System, known as LAPOR!SP4N, in order to improve the quality of public services such as health, education, road infrastructure, population administration, and social assistance. LAPOR!SP4N currently handles more than 10,000 complaints every month and seeks to respond and settle complaints from citizens within a five-day period.

Through complaints management, Ministries, Institutions and Local Governments are expected to develop better relationships and understand the needs of the community, and build public trust through inputs provided to improve transparency and accountability of public services. The complaints management system is also an effective means of increasing citizen participation in governance, and contributes significantly to the growth of responsible relations between the government and citizens.

In order to support the Government’s efforts in the management of complaints, PATTIRO, supported by CEGAH USAID, runs a 4-month program, developing an academic paper on the establishment of functional positions of public service complaints managers. The implementation of this program is carried out in support of the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucracy Reform (KemenPAN-RB), the Ombudsman RI and the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) in implementing the LAPOR!SP4N development roadmap.

To initiate the implementation of the program and to prepare an activity plan, on December 15, 2017, PATTIRO held a Program Planning Workshop attended by USAID, KemenPAN-RB, Ombudsman RI and KSP. “The purpose of this activity is to equalize the understanding and perspective between PATTIRO, KemenPAN-RB, ORI and KSP, as well as other stakeholders, about the output to be generated, and share experiences of the creation of functional position of Central and Regional Financial Analysts conducted by Directorate General of Fiscal Balance, Ministry of Finance (DJPK Kemenkeu) as input in program planning,” said Bejo Untung, PATTIRO Program Manager.

“This academic paper will be the basis for the preparation of the Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Regulation on functional positions of public service complaints managers,” added Bejo Untung.

In the discussion process, Ahsanul Minan from CEGAH USAID conveyed the need for the preparation of an Academic Paper on complaint management, based on the recommendations resulting from the evaluation of LAPOR!SP4N. “The review recommends that KemenPAN-RB creates a special unit that handles LAPOR!SP4N, including system management, coordination with Ministries and Agencies, monitoring the effectiveness of complaints management, training and technical support, sharing good practices of complaint management among government agencies, and reporting results regularly. The special unit should have sufficient authority for it,” said Minan.