Erwin Ariadharma talks through the history of civil service reform programs in Indonesia, focusing on recent reforms in the Director-General of Tax within the Ministry of Finance under Sri Mulyani, as well as reforms in the Supreme Audit Board and the Supreme Court. These three institutions together make up three priority areas for the government of Indonesia in terms of state revenue, auditing of state revenue, and law enforcement. Ariadharma talks briefly about the job-description exercise and rationalizing of job grades undertaken in these institutions. He also talks about the streamlining of standard operating procedures and improvements in information systems. He describes how salaries were raised within the three targeted institutions and how, once this had been done, there was a clearly articulated zero-tolerance policy on corruption. Opportunities for corruption were also reduced through minimizing citizen-staff interactions. Ariadharma talks about the role of the Ministry of Administrative Reform in sanctioning and approving reform. He concludes the interview with some thoughts on effective donor engagement with partner countries.
Full Interview
At the time of this interview, Erwin Ariadharma was senior public sector management specialist in the World Bank office in Jakarta. In this role, he was responsible for providing technical assistance to line ministries and government agencies undertaking reform programs, including the director-general of tax in the Ministry of Finance. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked for consulting firms in Indonesia, including Booz Allen Hamilton, KPMG, Moores Rowland, Bearing Point and Grant Thornton.