Indonesia’s Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (PANRB) said they will reject prospective civil servants who post social media content deemed to be against the values of NKRI (Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia) or the country’s founding ideology of Pancasila.
PANRB, along with several other ministries and state institutions, launched a complaint portal for state civil apparatus (ASN) yesterday, called Aduan ASN (ASN Complaint). The portal has been described as a tool to lodge complaints against civil servants, targeting those who allegedly post content deemed as intolerant or radical, be it in the form of links or social media accounts, amongst other content.
PANRB ministry’s secretary Dwi Wahyu Atmaji said the government will monitor social media accounts of all prospective civil servants who will undergo the upcoming entrance exam, to pinpoint those who adhere to values that are against the state’s ideology and constitution.
“Those who are anti-NKRI, anti-Pancasila, [they] won’t pass [the entrance exam],” Dwi told reporters yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
Anyone can post a complaint on the portal by registering themselves, then submitting the link as well as screenshots of the problematic content along with the reason. The complaint will then be handled by the portal’s internal team.
According to Dwi, his ministry has coordinated with the police regarding the issuance of the police clearance letter (SKCK), specifically to consider prospective civil servants’ possible track record of radicalization. The letter is one of the requirements for civil service recruitment.
“We hope each government institution will also conduct their own track record examination,” Dwi said.
The new administration seems set on a stricter conduct within government institutions. Recently, the newly-appointed Religious Affairs Minister Fachrul Razi was mired in controversy after the former military general — who never held a post in a religious office — touched upon the possibility that the government may enforce a limited ban on the niqab (face veil adorned by many Muslim women).
His reasons were related to security and were in light of the attack on former Chief Security Minister Wiranto in October by two IS-linked militants.
Justifying the proposed niqab ban, Fachrul said that the niqab is often mistaken as a religious requirement when, in fact, it’s a tradition passed down by certain Middle Eastern tribes, like in Saudi Arabia, who have increasingly let go of the garment in recent times.
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