The Paradox of Distance in Decentralized Indonesia
Abstract: One of the most
important promises of decentralization is to bring government closer to the
people through improved public services and decision making. In contrast to
thispromise, the implementation of decentralization in Indonesia seems to
create farther distance between government and the people resulting in the
paradox of distance. This article argues that the paradox of distance in
decentralized Indonesia is
institutionally engineered. It is due mainly to unclear mechanisms for
the people to hold government accountable and this stems from two main factors.
The first one refers to the politics of functional assignment between central
and local governments which benefits central government more than local
government. The second factor is the macro institutional arrangements on the
relationships between local government and the people where there is almost no
way for local people to hold their government accountable or punish the underperformed
local government. This article recommends significant transformation in the way
the central government manages functional assignment to enable local
gov-ernments to be more responsive to local people as well as reform of key
political arrange-ments to make them more responsive and accountable to local
people.
Author: Gabriel Lele
Journal Code: jpsosiologigg120003
