Future Governing in Developing Countries: A Reflection from

Indonesia

I am particularly interested on Peter’s chapter on Administrative reform in developing

government. He emphasizes that change in these countries is often driven by external
rather than internal forces (p. 168). In the case of Indonesia, his examination is reflected.
In 1990s, there has been a notable movements in policy and programming of the World
Bank and other agencies toward strengthening local government and creating good
governance. These change have affected the situation of government in the country. The
World Bank and at least 11 other bilateral and multilateral agencies supported the process
of reform in Indonesia. However, five years after the reform era started in 1997, the
public become dissapointed and sceptical about the willingness and the ability of
bureaucracy and legislative to change toward better goverment. Experiences gained from
NGO activities and a recent study on 20 participatory local governance initiatives in
Indonesia (IPGI 2003, Sumarto 2003) shows that a civil society enthusiasm to engage in
local governance has not been equalized with the absorption capacity of local government
and local legislative.

Using many of his arguments, I have better understanding why the reform efforts in
Indonesia have demostrated a notable result. Indonesian government tried to implement
all dimension of reform describes by Peter all at once. The idea of the market has been
central in Indonesian government since several decades ago, and the government still
comitted to apply different measures (also imposed international donors). And now, the
participatory style of reform being implemented. And it simply does not work. It seems
that the difficulty in developing participatory style in Indonesian government was
hampered because in the meantime the government was not prepared to deal with the new
management and mechanism of decision making contrary with the existing system. The
process and method of power sharing or that of a new role by the government in the
market style government, have not clearly defined.
Peter’s chapter on “Administrative Reform in Developing and Transitional
Governments” clearly shows the core challenges now being faced by developing
countries and the potent forms of governance to be implemented in the future.

Reference:
Indonesian Partnership on Local Governance Initiative – IPGI (2001). “Mendorong
Demokratisasi di Tingkat Lokal”. IPGI Bandung.
Sumarto, H. Sj. (2003). “Inovasi, Partisipasi dan Good Governance: 20 Prakarsa
Inovative di Indonesia” , Yayasan Obor, Jakarta.
Peters, B. G. (2001). “The Future of Governing”. The University Press of Kansas, USA