By: Theofransus Litaay

Six issues were the resource persons emerging from my ongoing research in East Nusa Tenggara. They are 1) Autonomy and dependency, 2) the Gap of policy and practice, 3) Pseudo-reality, 4) dysfunctional bureaucracy, 5) Function, structure and communication, 6) Distortion by political competition.

1. Autonomy and dependency.
For many, Musrenbang (Council Development Planning / Development Planning Deliberation) is Often praised as an example of the bottom-up planning method.

Diagram 1. Flow of district-level Development Planning

The framework above shows only partial process of the planning process inside the District. In fact, the program Should Be approved in the provincial and national forums Musrenbang Musrenbang forum before it went back to District.

The framework Ideals to Provide more participation in the planning process, however, the experiences in the NTT show That this ideal is yet to be achieved. The mechanism has been used not only to filter the unsuitable projects proposed by the bottom-up process but has also been used as the opportunity to assert central government's programs at the end deprives That regional autonomy. DPRD (local parliament) Could do nothing about this issue. Will local content comprises only around 10-20% of the budget (Regional Development Budget). Apart from the budget, there is "deconcentration fund," which is much bigger than the budget Itself. All of the "deconcentration" fund's projects are central government's projects. The results are some failure stories and rejection During implementation of the project. This situation has led to the dependent relationship from the local government to the national level.

Bias to local issues in fact Occurred as the planning process moved up from the bottom. Will this jeopardizes Because local knowledge at the same time there is also another downward movement from the central government That Able to "eat up" the local planning (a term expressed by a local government planner in Kupang). In this context, it is clear That bottom-up planning alone is insufficient enough as long as the institution is weak to Participate in the higher levels.

2. Gap of policy and practice.
The first finding above created the gap the between the government policy at one side and the community practices at the other side. Government's programs do not answer the needs of the people, while the community practices' Could not serve as the source of knowledge for policymaking. Grassroots-level initiatives and Innovations meet Difficulties to Flourish due to lack of government's support, whether in terms of budgetary subsidy, market access, and linkage to government's program.

As the result, although the community is independent enough from the government influences to manage Their own life, however the Limitation of resources as a cause Them Unable to Improve Their welfare economically. At the other side, government programs are heavily project-oriented That made it ineffective Pls the construction is finished. In some cases, even left behind by the community.

3. Pseudo reality.
Change does not come solely from the policy but Mainly from the community themselves. Policy's impact is in the small influence. Whether They want to change or not is heavily depend on the community Itself. At the other hand, the government also reporting That change has done, this pseudo-reality act at will from the end only unsuitable atmosphere for a sound policymaking.
In this behavioral context, there are two types of policy-makers exist.

First, the policy-maker That WHO insists everything is fine and there is nothing wrong about the policy or its impact. I would like to name it the denial type. Second, the one WHO thinks and talks openly regarding Difficulties or problems in development activity. This type is the open-minded.
The denial type is the person WHO Often relating his / her performance with the position held and the WHO want to be perceived as a Successful official. It is for these Reasons the denial-type person Will deny all unpleasant Realities and created his / her own reality. When That reality created-governmental organization is imposed in position, it will of against the nature of bureaucracy as noted by Weber as rational entity.

The open-minded type Could also be distinguished into two sub-types.
First sub-type is They WHO already pushed aside in local politics, and carry no baggage to speak Freely and openly, while the second sub-type is They Who Are politically strong at the local level.
In the author's observation, the political power is influenced by Several factors Such as genealogy, cultural power, and political affiliation. Genealogical factor determined by kinship / familyship Influential or relations with WHO Provide strong political figure for the subject of political patronage. Cultural factors related to traditional (customary) position in the social structure. The third factor connected to the membership of the ruling political party. At the local level, a blend of these factors, Will Establish political power.

4. Dysfunctional bureaucracy.
There are issues of competence, work ethics, motivation, and Dedication. Self-dealing Occurred in the agricultural service victimized That the Farmers. The quick impression Is that people are sitting in Their office more for the salary and lack of Their job Their cause.

Being government employees (civil servants: the civil service) is still seen as a means of social mobility. At the other side, as a symbol of social status, bureaucratic position also contributes to high appreciation from the community. As the result, competition to Become PNS is rarely seen as a competition to be a better servant, but to reach any social position or social status for the family. They enjoy the position more than enjoy the work to help the community.

Another issue Occurred Often in the Provinces far out from Jakarta is high dependency to a state budget, while the private sector is still weak. As the result, government bureaucracy Become the dominant power source and almost without control. The impact of this disincentive situation or lack of motivation for the bureaucrat to perform well, Because the control performance without the employees will not be worry of losing Their job.

5. Function, structure and communication.
There are some existing offices in provincial and district levels, That served the same function however lack coordination and communication. Duplication of function still exists. The striking example is the Research and Development section, the which exist in all levels, do the same work, never coordinated with each other.

Another lack attention relating That structure is the university - Whose core business is research but rarely INVOLVED in any coordinated action of the government's research and development activities. Not to mention the private-own university, even the state-owned university herself is not INVOLVED in the government's research activities.

6. Distortion by political competition.
Development programs in one particular period Often perceived partially belong to the respective period, while there is a need to approach it in a holistic approach. This factual situation is influenced by a wrong interpretation on the meaning of elections (local election) as a form of democratization process on district level since introduced post-1998 reform.

The which elections ideally serve as healthy political recruitment mechanism, in fact perceived as a competition to negate the legacy of political competitors including the competitor's ideas on development programs. Development programs are perceived more as the "leader's program" rather than a product of the system. This way of thinking may resulted in the new leader of the program discontinues previous leader, including good programs needed by the people.