Author: Almas Bimantara
In order to strengthen the implementation of bureaucratic reform at the university level and prepare all work units and faculties at Universitas Indonesia (UI) to be able to implement an integrity zone towards a clean and serving bureaucratic area that is free from corruption, UI held a Socialization of UI Internal Integrity Zone. This event was held on Monday, October 18, 2021, online via the Zoom Meeting application.
The event began with remarks delivered by dr. Agustin Kusumayati, M.Sc., Ph.D, as UI Secretary. dr. Agustin said that the current technological developments, coupled with the ongoing pandemic conditions, resulted in various changes in various matters. To be able to deal with it, adaptation must be applicable, including the UI organization which must be able to transform into a more advanced, modern and agile organization so that it has a strong ability to deal with any changes. UI itself has long proclaimed itself to make its territory a zone of integrity which includes an area free from corruption as well as a clean and serving bureaucracy area. However, until last year, UI had not shown any systematic steps towards this integrity zone. Until 2020, the Ministry of Education and Culture and Research and Technology included UI in the integrity zone assessment, so UI began to take structured steps towards this achievement, one of which was by forming a task force for bureaucratic reform and university transformation.
Then the event continued with listening to material presentation from Suwitno, S.E. MM, (Head of the LLDikti Integrity Zone) about the integrity zone. Suwitno said bureaucratic reform and corruption prevention are in accordance with the five directives from the President of the Republic of Indonesia. It is hoped that the bureaucratic reform that is being pursued will create a clean, accountable, capable bureaucracy with excellent public services. In this bureaucratic reform there are eight things that can be maximized, which include work culture, management, human resources, policy deregulation, supervision, accountability, public services, and organization. In addition to bureaucratic reform, the integrity zone also includes corruption prevention.
Corruption is a serious problem that has many negative impacts such as hindering prosperity to development. There are several steps that can be implemented to prevent and eradicate corruption. These steps consist of improving institutional regulations and governance, monitoring and involving public participation, and strengthening corruption prevention strategies which can be carried out by surveying integrity perceptions, strategic sector studies, and organizing anti-corruption education. There are several strategic steps that can be implemented to building an integrity zone which include commitment, ease of service, programs that touch the community, monitoring evaluation, and media management.
Then the event continued with the next guest speaker, Dr. Teguh Kurniawan M.Sc, (Chairman of the Department of State Administration of FIA UI) who discussed the whistleblowing system in universities. In his presentation, Teguh explained that a whistleblower is someone who discloses mistakes in an organization to the public to those in authority. Whistle blowers usually provide information about wrong things done by an organization, be it corruption, bribery, fraud, and others. The current whistle blower is considered quite important, especially in the current integrity zone construction period. This is based on survey results which show that more fraud is found through reporting compared to internal audits.
“Therefore this whistleblowing system is also something that is important to develop and build on so that it can be our effort to improve our organization,” added Teguh. Becoming a whistleblower is not an easy thing because it has various consequences. Such as being forced to leave the organization, his life and that of his family could be in danger, the reputation of the organization may suffer, and even detention. In order to avoid these bad things, the whistle blower must be ethical in voicing his information. A whistle blower is considered ethical if the case he discloses causes great harm to the public. In addition, the whistleblower must also have documented evidence and valid reasons for disclosing the mistake.
Even though it is quite important, whistleblowing should be used as a last resort when it is deemed that there is no other way to solve the problem. The next presentation session was then continued by Amien Sunaryadi Ak MPA CISA (Chief Commissioner of PLN) who presented material about conflicts of interest in the public sector. Based on his explanation, conflicts of interest usually occur when there is a conflict between the main duties and functions (tupoksi) of his position and personal interests. In addition, there may also be conflicts between the main functions of an organization and the main functions of other organizations that are carried out simultaneously. Therefore, when making a decision, you must pay attention to what name or position you made the decision.
Conflict of interest will certainly be dangerous for the organization itself and also for the public if the organization produces policies that apply to the public. For this reason, several specific strategies are needed to prevent conflicts of interest from occurring, such as enacting regulations that prohibit situations or conditions of conflicts of interest. If there is a situation where there is a possibility of an unavoidable conflict of interest, the person concerned must make a declaration containing his/her non-participation in decision-making to the leadership. Apart from that, the next step that can be taken is to make an integrity pact which instructs to avoid conflicts of interest that must be signed by all members in the organization.
