Metrotvnews.com, Jakarta: The Civil Society Coalition incorporated in Publish What You Pay (PWYP) of Indonesia urged the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) that the mechanism and process of auctioning echelon one positions at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources be carried out with integrity, transparency, and accountability.

 This is because of the magnitude of challenges faced by this sector, especially in the aspects of governance that are suspected to be laden with mafia games. This position auction process is encouraged to have more integrity to produce officials who are clean, transparent, and have a vision and qualified capacity in reforming the governance of the oil and gas, mining and energy sectors.

 PWYP Indonesia considers that there are at least six critical notes that must be examined concerning the job auction process at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. First, before looking for the director general’s figure in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, there should be an overview in advance regarding the desired criteria according to the needs and challenges to be faced.

 “The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources must be open and convey these criteria to the public,” said Maryati Abdullah, National Coordinator of PWYP Indonesia in its release, Monday (1/12/2015).

 Secondly, PWYP Indonesia assesses the requirements for candidates other than civil servants (PNS) which are only for the Director-General of Oil and Gas and the Director-General of Electricity, the public does not know the reason clearly. Whereas Article 109 of Law Number 5 Year 2004 concerning State Civil Apparatus provides equal opportunities for non-civil servant candidates to compete in all echelon ministry positions.

 “Opportunities for non-civil servant candidates are not merely multiplying choices or providing equal opportunities but also improving the quality of selection because candidates from civil servants will be increasingly encouraged to compete,” Maryati said.

 Third, this position auction must go through a stage of public testing to obtain various input from the public, especially related to the track record of the candidates.

 “Public testing is one of the crucial stages to test the integrity of candidates. Unfortunately, the selection committee has not included the public test as one of the stages, “said Aryanto Nugroho, PWYP Indonesia’s Advocacy Coordinator.

 Fourth, the Government should also involve the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) as part of the selection process.

 “It was intended to prove the commitment of the Jokowi-JK Government to the promise to fight the energy mafia, oil and gas mafia, and mining mafia,” continued Aryanto.

 Fifth, in several stages such as writing a paper, the selection committee must be truly transparent and objective. PWYP Indonesia encourages that papers prepared by candidates be published so that the public can assess the candidate’s vision, mission, program and capacity in resolving the problems faced.

 “This is to maintain the potential for judgments by the committee which are not objective,” explained Aryanto.

 The last point, Aryanto explained that the mechanism and process of this office auction are also prone to conflicts of interest, considering that some members of the selection committee are CEOs of oil and gas and mineral and coal companies, which in fact are companies that will be directly or indirectly monitored for their performance by the Director-General of Oil and Gas and the Director-General of Mineral and Coal the results of the selection process.

 “Director-General with integrity, professionalism, and has a good track record is the initial capital to block the entry of various interests that want to harm the country and society. The government must guarantee that the mechanism and process of this office auction are transparent and accountable,” Aryanto said.

(WID)

Source: Metrotvnews