President Wants Civil Servants to be Agents of Change

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - President Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, met with civil servants at the 43rd anniversary of the Civil Servant Corps (Korpri) here on Monday.

On the occasion, he expressed hope that civil servants in the country will become the agents of change to realize his "mental revolution" program.

"Korpri members must become teachers and role models to carry out the changes that the general public has been expecting," he said to thousands of civil servants gathered at Monas Square.

He stressed that Korpri must be able to create clean and competent bureaucrats as well as a bureaucratic system to assure better and faster public services.

According to him, Korpri members must respect their professional code of ethics and prove that their performance has been improving.

"Strengthen your synergy to accelerate the achievement of development targets," he noted.

At the ceremony attended by around 15,000 civil servants in blue batik Korpri uniform, a banner reading "Let us make the national movement for civil servants' mentality revolution successful" was raised.

The Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla government has launched a mental revolution campaign to improve nationhood and statehood. The campaign also covers civil servants.

Administrative reform minister Yuddi Chrisnandi recently banned civil servants from holding meetings or official activities in hotels and insisted that they use state facilities for such purposes.

The President and Vice-President have instructed to optimize the use of facilities in offices so as to increase efficiency and save budget, he added.

He emphasized that the directives also applied to regional governments across the country and not just to the central government employees.

"We have already informed them. So, any violation will attract action," the minister affirmed.    

A band from the Institute of State Administration marched at the event, which was also attended by a number of cabinet members.

"Be bureaucrats who serve with a full heart for the glory of the nation and the welfare of the people," the President exhorted. (WDY)