Bureaucratic Communication in State Administration Transparency

Triana Nurchayati

Universitas Paramadina

Keywords: Transparency, Information Services, Information Disclosure, Good Governance, Information Disputes, Bank

Indonesia, Banking Transparency.

Abstract: One of the ways to implement transparency state administration transparency is by applying Law Number 14

of 2008 concerning Public Information Openness (UU KIP). UU KIP aims to realize good governance, which

is transparent, effective, and efficient, accountable, and can be accounted through the principle of providing

fast, easy, simple, and low-cost information services. However, in its implementation, it is often constrained

by the characteristics of bureaucratic communication. Bank Indonesia integrates the Information Management

and Documentation Officer (PPID) with the contact center to speed up information services. Research through

this case study found that to overcome the characteristics of bureaucratic communication, Bank Indonesia

encouraged the placement of information service solvers, created Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs)

between contact centers and Work Units, and internal memos to ensure that the deadline for information

services is not exceeded. If the deadline was exceeded, an information dispute might occur

1 INTRODUCTION

The government encourages the realization of good

governance, which is transparent, effective, and

efficient, accountable, and can be accounted through

the enactment of Law Number 14 of 2008 concerning

Public Information Openness (UU KIP). This

objective is explicitly stated in Article 3 letter (d) of

UU KIP (Central Information Commission, 2015: 2).

To fulfill it, Public Agency is obliged to carry out 3

(three) actions, namely appointing an Information

and Documentation Management Officer (PPID),

making a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for

Management and Public Information Services and

compiling a Public Information List (DIP) and an

Exempt Information List (DIK) through the

consequence test process.

For the public, transparency in the administration

of the state opens access for citizens to play an active

role in knowing public policymaking plans,

participating in public policy decision-making, and

overseeing the implementation of public policy. UU

KIP not only regulates what Public Agency needs to

do in building an information service system but also

procedures and periods for the public to receive the

information requested, as well as the mechanism to

reject information requests.

According to Birkinshaw, Patrick (2010: 29),

freedom of information means access to individuals

as a presumptive right to information held by public

authorities. Reasonable and clearly defined time

limits for the right must be in operation. In some

regimes, it is restricted to citizens or residents within

a legal regime. The right must be defined in law to be

a right.

Public Agency according to Article 1 number 3 of

the UU KIP are executive, legislative, judiciary, and

other bodies which main functions and duties are

related to the administration of the state, which part

or all of the funds are sourced from the State Revenue

and Expenditure Budget and/or Regional Revenue

and Expenditure Budget, or non-governmental

organizations as long as part or all of the funds come

from the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget

and/or Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget,

community contributions, and/or abroad.

The PPID position as coordinator in the

management, service, and documentation of public

information did not exist in a government agency, but

later, this task is attached to the Government's Public

Relations (PR) function. This is a new challenge for

Government Public Relations because the previous

PPID position was not included in the government

agencies' structure. The solution is then to attach

Nurchayati, T.

Bureaucratic Communication in State Administration Transparency.

DOI: 10.5220/0009400701070113

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Anti-Corruption and Integrity (ICOACI 2019), pages 107-113

ISBN: 978-989-758-461-9

107

PPID to an existing position (functional). At this

point, the characteristic of bureaucratic

communication has the potential to hamper

information services. On the one hand, the principles

of information services require timely, easy, simple,

and low-cost services. On the other hand, one of the

bureaucratic communication's characteristics is a

hierarchical pattern of authority (authority), which

allows information disputes to occur, due to the lapse

of time in responding to requests for information.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Moenir (in Ramadhani 2015: 744) defines service as

series of activities that take place routinely and

continuously that covers the entire life of people in

society, and states that public service is an activity

carried out by a person or group of people on the basis

of material factors through systems, procedures, and

certain methods in the framework of business, to

fulfill the interests of others in accordance with their

rights.

Information is defined in Article 1 paragraph (1)

of UU KIP (Dipopramono: 2017, 288) as information,

statements, ideas and signs that contain values,

meanings and messages, both data, facts, and

explanations that can be seen, heard, and read, which

are presented in various packaging and formats in

accordance with the development of electronic and

non-electronic information and communication

technology.

Organizational communication plays an

important role in achieving organizational goals.

Hardjana, Andre (2016: 42-43) defines organizational

communication as the display and interpretation of

messages between communication units that are part

of an organization. An organization consists of

communication units that are interconnected

hierarchically and functionally in an environment.

Organizational communication in information

services based on UU KIP takes place in a public

agency or government agency as bureaucratic

organizations. The research uses Weber's Theory,

which states that efficiency is related to a hierarchical

pattern of authority (Romli, 2014: 184).

According to Faules, Don.F, and Pace, R.Wayne

(2018: 46), one of the ten characteristics of a

bureaucratic organization, according to Weber, is the

authority to carry out the obligations given to the

position. That is, the only time that a person is given

the authority to perform official duties is when he is

legally occupying his position. Weber called this a

legal authority. Authority is authorized by the belief

in the rule of law. In such a system, obedience is

based on a set of principles, not on a certain person.

These characteristics include having to follow

directions from his superior officer, regardless of who

occupies the higher office.

Weber, in Littlejohn, Stephen W, and Foss, Karen

A (2014: 363-364), said that the big bureaucratic

principles, according to Weber, are authority,

specialization, and rules. The best way to organize

rational-legal authority is by hierarchy. In other

words, superiors have more bosses. Hierarchy is

explained by regulations within the organization.

This functional PPID structure involves Work

Units (Satker) or other divisions, which in public

bodies, are hierarchically characterized by

echelonization. Legal authority is given to the official

who functioned as PPID, whose hierarchically

responsible for coordinating information services.

However, in practice, the information service

department does not necessarily have a higher

hierarchy or echelon than functional officials in other

Satker or divisions who control the information

requested.

If the obstacles in coordinating information

requests at the Satker are too long and exceeds the

period of information request, it may result in an

informal dispute. Information services in UU KIP

require a period of response or fulfillment of

information. When a community submits a request

for information, PPID has a 10 (ten) day time limit to

respond and can request an extension of 7 (seven)

working days. If they do not obtain a response or are

not satisfied with the PPID answer, they can submit

an objection to the PPID supervisor.

PPID supervisors have 30 (thirty) working days to

answer objections. If they are not satisfied with the

response from the PPID supervisor or the PPID does

not respond, then the public or information requester

can submit a dispute to the Central / Provincial /

Regency / City Information Commission. The time

limit to submit a dispute is 14 (fourteen) working days

after the 30 (thirty) working days time limit, for PPID

supervisors to respond to an objection, expired.

Previous research was conducted by Aat Ruchyat

and Trie Damayanti, published in Interact Journal,

Atma Jaya, with the title "Communication of

Government Apparatus Bureaucracy in the

Implementation of the Law on Public Information

Openness (Case Study in the Office of

Communication and Information of West Java

Province). The results showed that the

implementation of the bureaucratic communication

strategy was good and the SOP of the West Java

Province Diskominfo by applicable laws and

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regulations. The obstacles include limitations in

aspects of human resources, institutional aspects, and

aspects of the political will of the leadership of public

institutions, where they do not understand the role and

function of Government Public Relations in the era of

comprehensive information disclosure.

This study will further describe the synergy

between contact centers and PPID in providing

information services to the public, to prevent

information disputes which are caused by the lapse of

time in fulfilling information requests.

3 METHODS

This research uses a qualitative approach. Bogdan

and Taylor (Moleong: 202 in Djamal, 2015: 9)

explain that qualitative research as research that

produces descriptive data in the form of written or

oral data from people or behaviors that can be

observed. The method used is a case study, with

material collection through document studies and

interviews. The essence of case studies, the main

tendency of all types of case studies, is to try to

explain the decisions about why the study was

chosen, how to implement it, and what the results are

(Schramm, 1971 in K.Yin, Robert, 2015: 17).

The case study was conducted at the Non-

Ministry Public Agency, namely Bank Indonesia,

considering that Bank Indonesia is one of the

recipients of the 2018 Informative Public Agency

award in the monitoring and evaluation process

conducted by the Central Information Commission.

This research is aimed to describe the obstacles to

implement transparency in the administration of the

state by public government bodies, and how to

overcome them, so that it can be adopted by other

public bodies. This research also contributes to the

academic field in the field of communication,

especially bureaucratic communication.

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Bank Indonesia's Information and Documentation

Management Officer (PPID) is formed through Bank

Indonesia Board of Governor Regulation Number

10/10 / PDG / 2008 concerning Bank Indonesia

Information Management and Bank Indonesia Board

of Governor Decree Number 14/46 / KEP.GBI /

INTERN / 2012 concerning Information and

Documentation Managers at Bank Indonesia. Not

only based on Act Number 14 of 2008 concerning

Public Information Openness (UU KIP), information

services for Bank Indonesia also formed as part of the

implementation of Bank Indonesia Act Number 23 of

1999 which demands accountability and transparency

in every implementation of its duties, authorities, and

budgeting of Bank Indonesia, in which one of the

ways is by publicly communicates information to the

public.

The PPID structure, as established by Bank

Indonesia, is shown in Chart.3 below:

Chart.1 Bank Indonesia PPID Structure

Source: Bank Indonesia

Bureaucratic Communication in State Administration Transparency

109

Bank Indonesia regulates services and

coordination of information in the Internal Governing

Board Member Regulation Number 19/11/PADG

INTERN/2017 regarding Public Information Services

at Bank Indonesia (PADG LIP). The PPID supervisor

position is held by the Head of the Communication

Department. The official one level below him is the

Head of the Group in the Communication

Department. In carrying out their duties, PPID is

assisted by Implementing PPID and Operational

PPID. The Implementing PPID saves and announces

periodic information and information that must be

immediately announced, which have been obtained

from all of the Work Units (Satker) at Bank

Indonesia.

Whereas the Operational PPID is tasked with

providing a List of Information to PPID and

submitting information and/or documents that fall

into the category of information that must be

announced periodically and information that must be

immediately announced automatically by its Satker to

PPID. In information services,

PPID has the vision to

be the best PPID in the nation in the context of

realizing Bank Indonesia that is credible and the best

in the region and meets the international standards. Its

mission is to create a reliable and trusted PPID in

providing information for all stakeholders.

The Information Management and

Documentation Officer (PPID), with a contact center

called BICARA (BI Call and Interaction), receives

requests for information via telephone 131 or comes

directly to the visitor center. Requests for information

are mostly completed within 1 (one) working day by

a contact center integrated with PPID as an

information service desk. During May 2019

(Chart.2), for example, in 1 (one) month they received

6,750 requests for information with the theme of the

3 (three) major information requested being around

the rupiah (23.6%), the Financial Services Authority

(Information Services System Finance / SLIK) as

much as 13.32%, and the payment system - BI RTGS

as much as 10.13%.

Chart.2 Information Services for May 2019

Source: Bank Indonesia

The existence of the contact center supports the

information services provided by PPID, and this

resulted in Bank Indonesia to never yet experience an

information dispute since the contact center was

established. Before its existence or at the end of 2010,

PPID faced an information dispute at the Central

Information Commission, although, the Board of

Commissioners in Decision Number 54 / XI / KIP-

PS-MA / 2010 decided that the request for

information was dropped because the Petitioner was

absent from the hearing without any clear reason.

Through the information services provided by

BICARA, the public does not need to wait for 10 (ten)

working days, as stipulated in UU KIP, to be able to

receive responses of requests for information.

Moreover, to raise objections to the PPID supervisors.

BICARA increases the effectiveness of public

information services and prevents information

disputes by responding to requests for information in

less than 24 hours.

The procedure is as follows; requests for

information coming in through BICARA are recorded

by the agent, including the information applicant’s

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data and the requested information. If the requested

information is available and regarded as public

information, it will be immediately provided to the

applicant. However, if the requested information is

included in the classification of information such as

selected, top-secret, and restricted, then it must first

be coordinated with the PPID. PPID has classified the

types of information that can be disclosed as well as

confidential before the enactment of UU KIP.

In addition to receiving requests of information,

BICARA also accommodates complaints by

stakeholders. The complaint may concerns several

things, namely:

1. Direct complaints

2. Stakeholders were not satisfied with answers

related to requests of information which were

submitted to the contact center and/or PPID.

3. Stakeholders were not satisfied with the

solution submitted by BICARA and the Satker,

related to their complaints.

These complaints or claims opened the space for

public participation in improving Bank Indonesia's

performance, especially in information services.

BICARA is committed to prioritizing BI's strategic

values, which include trust and integrity -

professionalism - excellence - public interest -

coordination and teamwork. BICARA contact center

supports the implementation of BI’s communication

policy by actively disseminating accurate and

valuable data and information to the public.

4.1 Coordination of Information

Services

The contact center serves thousands of requests for

information every month. As an illustration, in the

fourth quarter of 2018, the contact center served

18,903 requests for information that could be

completed in less than 24 hours or 1 (one) working

day (Figure 3). Of this figure, 87.49% of information

applicants expressed satisfaction with the quality of

services, and questions regarding the payment system

- BI RTGS- were the most requested by the public.

Chart. 3 Quarter IV Public Information Services Report in 2018

Source: Bank Indonesia

The number of requests for information decreased

in the first quarter of 2019 to 16,618 requests for

information. Of this figure, 16,618 expressed

satisfaction with the quality of Bank Indonesia's

information services. The decline in the number of

information services was 2,285 from the fourth

quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019, due to the

shift of BI checking information services to the

Financial Services Authority (OJK) as of January

2019 (Chart.4).

Chart. 4 2019 Public Information Service Quarterly Report I

Source: Bank Indonesia

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111

The Human Resources (HR) of contact center

totaled 60 (sixty) people, which consists of agents,

leaders, solvers, and content creators. The agent

handles information requests that come through all

channels of information service. The solver in

information services functions as a hub. If there is a

request that the agent cannot fulfill, the agent will

report to the leader, which then the solver coordinates

it with the Satker and PPID. In the Regional and

Overseas Operational PPID, the solver can also

function to provide public information services.

Before UU KIP, Bank Indonesia had an

Information Acquisition Classification List (DKPI)

that classified which information can be provided to

the public and which information was confidential or

secret. Therefore, making it easy for the contact

center to answer requests for information because

everything is in the DKPI database. After Bank

Indonesia improved its information services, the

DKPI was then converted into a Public Information

List (DIP) and an Excluded Information List (DIK).

In one case, for example, the request for

information was posted on behalf of Siti Budi

Fatmawati as the attorney of theNitiredjo clan. The

family claimed to owned shares in PT Bank Tani

Umum in De Javasche Bank. In essence, this family

asked for the disbursement of shares, which in the past

had been saved at De Javasche Bank. They have

already taken legal proceedings through court, not

only this year, but requests for information were made

in 2017. Bank Indonesia has answered that this

information is not within the authority of Bank

Indonesia; however, this case was reported to the

Ombudsman.

For requests for information similar to this case,

the contact center coordinates with the solver and

PPID. Then PPID analyzes the files submitted and

coordinates with the Legal Department (DHK). This

is because PPID does not master technical detail

regarding the legal position of the case for an

application for information that has gone through the

court.

In coordinating the substance of requests for

information with other Satker, although have been set

out in the Structure and Standard Operating

Procedures (SOP) of PPID, it still requires an internal

memo signed by officials at the same position level. If

the PPID is informed of which Division is in charge of

information, then the memo requesting information to

the Satker is signed by the PPID held by the Head of

the Strategy and Management Communication Group.

However, if the PPID does not know which

information is in which Division, then the memo from

the PPID will be signed by the PPID supervisor. This

PPID supervisor then sends a memo to another Head

of Department, for example, theDHK, to request this

information. Technically, inter-leader memos

sometimes take more than 10 (ten) days because the

leadership constraints are not in place, and so on.

This becomes an obstacle for the contact center

and PPID in information services, bureaucratic

coordination attached to positions, and authorities

through the submission and signing of internal

memos, which are often constrained by technical

problems. In order not to exceed the period for

requesting information, PPID usually handles it by

sending letters in parallel to the information

requesters. The content of the letter requested an

extension of time to respond to requests for

information because it is coordinating with the

relevant Satker.

Another solution is to trace the existence of the

current memo proactively. Then, if the content of a

request for information has the potential to become an

information dispute, the coordination with Satker is

carried out until the name or team that will represent

BI to attend the public information dispute hearing at

the Information Commission is provided.

However, a memo is not needed when there is a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the

contact center and the Satker, including the Payment

System Department (DPSP) and the Financial System

Stability Department (DSSK). If an MoU exists, the

contact center only needs to coordinate via email to

the Satker. Another obstacle is if there is a Division

that moves the Department. The MoU then became

invalid with the Department's move.

Internal memos also apply when providing

information, in the case of updated information that

must be provided and announced regularly, because

this type of information must be proactively conveyed

to the public through media that is easily accessible,

for example, the website. If there is information that

is updated or a new policy, prior to the publication, it

must first be conveyed through knowledge sharing

with the contact center and compiled a Frequently

Asked Questions (FAQ) which will be submitted to

the contact center.

This knowledge sharing forum is also done

through internal memos between leaders of the same

level, for example, between Department Heads and

Department Heads or Group Heads to Group Heads.

For example, when a contact center receives a request

for information regarding the rules of Financial

Technology (Fintech). In the case where the

information is not owned, and the information

applicant conveys that the regulation exists. Thus, the

Head of the Group or PPID will write a memo to, for

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example, the Fintech Department to conduct

knowledge sharing about the product.

The existence of this internal memo becomes

important in the process of fulfilling information

requests and the information service process given the

length of time required to fulfill it. However, aside

from being a formal internal communication media,

the memo is also used when problems might arise in

the future. There are written records that are archived.

5 CONCLUSION

The existence of a contact center minimizes and even

prevents information disputes due to the deadline for

information fulfillment. Contact centers integrated

with PPID fulfill requests for information in less than

24 hours by telephone 131 or come directly to the

visitor center. Data for the fourth quarter of 2018

showed that there are 18,903 tickets for information

fulfillment. Then in the first quarter of 2019, the

number dropped to 16,618 tickets for information

fulfillment. The decrease in the number of requests

for information was due to the shifting of services of

BI checking to the Financial Services Authority

(OJK).

PPID regulates information service procedures

through the Internal Governor Board Member

Regulation Number 19/11 / PADG INTERN / 2017

concerning Public Information Services (PADG LIP)

at Bank Indonesia. Specific information requests

which are not provided in the Frequently Asked

Question (FAQ) in the contact center, are then

processed further by PPID. Unfortunately, PADG

LIP has become a system that runs by itself in

coordinating information services. To encourage

information services, there is an MoU between the

contact center and the Satker, the placement of

solvers in the Satker, and using internal memos

between officials at the same echelonization level so

that PPID can obtain information that is available at

the Satker to fulfill the request for information.

The contact center and PPID proactively asked

the relevant Satker about the existence of the memo

so as not to exceed the period for fulfilling public

information. On the other hand, the PPID also sent a

letter requesting an extension of time in answering

requests for information to the applicants. Internal

memos are also needed when updating information

that must be provided and announced periodically.

Related to these constraints, Researcher suggested

that in order for an information symmetry, that is in

the form of understanding Law Number 14 of 2008

on Public Information Openness (UU KIP), an

information services workshop is required, also how

to deal with information disputes in each Satker.

Although Satker is not directly related to information

services or information disputes. However, it is

expected that with the existence of the workshop, the

Satker understands how PPID must serve information

within the specified time limit and the risks in dealing

with information disputes. *)

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