Robert La Mont ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 05/29/2009 11:51 AM  |  Opinion

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is undertaking a thorough institutional reform process, starting with the adoption of six regulations, or Perja (Peraturan Jaksa Agung), in June 2007.

These regulations were to reform recruitment, career development, training, minimum professional standards, supervision and create a code of conduct.

At that time, the regulations did not specifically address bureaucracy reform because the AGO was awaiting guidelines from the State Ministry of Administrative Reforms. These guidelines were only published this year. The AGO is now in the initial phase of its bureaucracy reform.

Although the first six Perja were adopted nearly two years ago, they have so far been more aspirations than concrete changes.

The AGO has over 7,000 prosecutors and 14,000 employees across Indonesia . It is a huge organization with the vital responsibility of prosecuting crime.

While the six Perja identified many of the changes that were needed, they did not actually succeed in changing much in practice. Most of them relate to the human resource system, which is the emphasis of bureaucracy reform.

The need to promote the people whose performance contributed to the objective of the organization, prosecuting crime while upholding the rule of law, is of paramount importance. This necessitates carefully relating the organization's goal to the work of each employee and a feedback system that evaluates their performance objectively and rewards it accordingly.

Before this basic requirement can be fulfilled, the AGO needs an information system that provides accurate and objective information on performance and instruments to evaluate it.

For this to happen, there must be a mechanism in place to collect complaints about prosecutor performance that encourages those with knowledge of unprofessional activity to report it.

None of these things existed at the AGO, but they are being developed as part of its reform agenda. The AGO has studied its IT (Information Technology) system and is redesigning it to provide the objective information needed.

The supervision branch has designed instruments to measure performance. A new website has been created and was launched May 22 that will allow citizens to make complaints online as well as improve AGO's transparency. (See www.kejaksaan.co.id).

Using a respected international human resource consulting firm, the AGO has conducted job evaluations and has written job descriptions for all positions that tie the goal of the organization to individual performance.

They have also designed a remuneration system to align the level of responsibility with market compensation. The job descriptions also provide an objective basis for the assessment instruments.

The AGO is now moving forward with a workload study which will allow it to reassign human resources to maximize effectiveness. Finally, improved training has been introduced at the training center.

These steps are costly and time consuming, but it is important to do them correctly to ensure their effectiveness and also lay a firm basis for further reforms.

All of the Perja need to be implemented upon a foundation of a human resource system that puts the best people in the jobs for which they are the most qualified.

Yet, concrete milestones have not been developed to measure progress on implementation. Much remains to be done.

It is tempting to demand quick solutions to the scandals that have rocked all of the justice sector institutions. It is satisfying when the guilty and incompetent are fired.

However, we can only expect so much from such an approach. If the people change but not the system, the problems will come back. A long-term commitment to change the structure of these organizations is needed.

Well-designed and implemented organizational change is much more important than a high profile dismissal. The later can often be window dressing that protects an institution that continues unchanged. Organizational change is slower, but will produce sustainable results.

Civil Society is right to monitor the performance of the justice sector institutions, including the AGO. They need to focus on monitoring the inner workings of these institutions, how they reward and punish their staff and whether the goals of the organizations are effectively made the goals of the employees.

The writer is, director of the Justice Sector Reform Program for The Asia Foundation in Jakarta .