The Local Political Power, Meritocracy and Patronage in the Recruitment

of High Level Bureaucracy in the Provincial Government of South

Kalimantan

Netty Herawatya,, Siti Mauliana Harinib

a
Department of Government Science , Lambung Mangkurat University, Indonesia
E-mail address: nettyherawaty.fisip@unlam.ac.id

b
Department of Government Science , Lambung Mangkurat University, Indonesia
E-mail address: yanahairini@gmail.com

1. Background/ Objectives and Goals

This research reveals that the political power remain the dominant factor to the recruitment
process of upper structural position in the government office in Indonesia. According to Law
Number 5 of 2014 on State Civil Apparatus, the local political leaders (Governor or Major)
have been given authority to appoint a civil servant to sit in the high-level position in the
structural bureaucracy. However, this paper found that the merit system is not only an
important instrument used by the governor of South Kalimantan to posit the qualified
bureaucrats into strategic positions in the local government, but also will be the gateway to
establish the patronage linkage between the governor as a political leader and the selected
echelon II holders as policy makers in the administrative level.

2. Methods
This research is intended to describe the recruitment process of strategic officials in
bureaucracy. Therefore, this study used qualitative approach to get deeper analyses in
research process. The data was obtained by in-depth interviews to some key informants who
directly and indirectly involved in the recruitment’s process, namely the members of the
selection team of structural bureaucracy in the provincial government, some of the former
echelon II holders who were rotated or moved to functional positions by the governor, some
of the new selected bureaucrats sit in the strategic offices, and some civil servants at various
level (top, middle and lower) working in the Civil Service Provincial Board (Badan
Kepegawaian Daerah/BKD). All key informants above are the main sources to gain valuable
data about the important factors that influence the recruitment system of bureaucracy in the
local government of South Kalimantan. Besides, the research also tries to find out reason why
the new governor tends to recruit the new policy makers in administrative officials during
his/her ruling period. In the provincial government of South Kalimantan, the elected governor
rotated and deactivated all previous head of local departments and then promoted other upper
bureaucrats to hold those positions. Moreover, the official publications of provincial

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government, formal letters, and other relevant important documents also have been used as
primary data.

3. Expected Results/ Conclusion/ Contribution

Based on the research data, it was found that the governor is a central actor in determining the
future career of bureaucrats. The authority of the Governor in promoting the highest level of
bureaucracy (Echelon II holders) becomes more powerful when the governor is a winning
candidate in the direct local election. Moreover, the rule of law has established the strong role
of Governor to appoint the bureaucrats to posit strategic offices in the local government. It is
not surprising that there is a closed relationship between politics and bureaucracy in
Indonesia. Karl D Jackson (1978), for example, argued that in the New Order bureaucrats,
military officers and technocrats have power and authority to make political decision and
public policy. This thesis has been called model of “bureaucratic polity”. However, there is a
lack of research focusing on the influence of politics in the appointment of high-level
bureaucrats. This research indicates that the political authority is used to build the new
patronage relation between governor and bureaucracy. Approximately a year after being
elected in December 2015, the new Governor of South Kalimantan deactivated 17 senior
bureaucrats and some of them were moved in to functional positions. He then appointed 10
other echelon II holders to become acting officials in 10 divisions of local government, which
did not have appointed head of office yet. On January 2017. It means that he prefers to posit
new bureaucrats as acting officials rather than keep the former ones to lead the strategic
offices during his rule.
Nevertheless, the appointment of new bureaucrats in the provincial government of South
Kalimantan also was preceded by a competence assessment from the Civil Service Board in
order to give recommendation to the Governor about the capability and qualification of the
bureaucrats. Meanwhile, the final decision of selecting the policy makers in the
administrative offices is in the hand of Governor. Some of bureaucrats were also appointed
because of the informal relations with the Governor. Thus, this research found that the
Governor is not only need to choose qualified bureaucrats who can be rely on to keep the
administrative and public services running well, but also want to select the officials who can
be trust on making strategic policy in the government through patronage linkage.

Keywords: Bureaucracy, patronage, merit system, local government.