A.

Background
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1828), the term bureaucracy is derived

from the French bureaucratie, which consist of two words: bureau that means desk and

cratie that refer to the word government. The term of bureaucracy itself means a

government characterized by specialization of functions, adherence to fixed rules, and a

hierarcy of authority (Merriam-Webster, n.d.).

Max Weber, a German sociologist, in his essay Bureaucracy (1922) published his

infamous theory, Economy and Society. In his work, Weber argued that the use of

bureaucracy in a governance is the most efficient and rational way of organizing the

government and its society. He supported his assertion by explaining that because of the

growth in space and population being administered within its complexity and dynamic,

thus there is a demand to have an administrative part in the government that could take

those responsibilities of assessing the people into account. However, bureaucracy is not

part of the elective government officials. Thus, their work will not be affected by any

political group interest and solely devoting themselves for the states interest
In his ideal type of bureaucracy, Weber stated that there are some features or

characteristics that the administration must have in order to work properly, which are the

following:
I. It covers a fixed are of activity, which is governed by rules;
II. It is organized as a hierarchy;
III. Action that is under taken is based on written documents (preserved as files);
IV. Expert training is needed, especially for some;
V. Officials devote their full activity to their work; and
VI. The management of the office follows general rules which can be learned.
The establishment of bureaucracy in Indonesia itself has been introduced before the

independence of the state. Within the diversity of its nation, Indonesia, in the process of

nation formation, has to be assisted by inclusive representatives that could distribute

equality to each and every ethnic that belongs to Indonesia. The major transformation that
happened during the pre-independence of Indonesia that was obtained from various

distinctive ethnic local societies into a single nation was supported by the existing

government bureaucracy on the persona of its members. In accordance to H. W. Bachtiar in

hisarticle Nation Formation in Indonesia (1972):

The primary function of a government bureaucracy is to mediate between the

interests of the Government, comprised of a number of persons authorized to
make decisions binding to the citizens of the state, and the interest of the
population who inhabit the territory of the state; in Indonesia, it is technically
heterogeneous population. The decisions made by the members of the
Government cannot be implemented without the existence of such a bureaucracy
and the cooperation of those individuals who occupy positions in its various parts
and branches
The very first Cabinet is the indication of the already existing bureaucracy in

Indonesia, although it was still under the control of Japanese military occupational forces.

They had a special task to perform and a hierarchy of authority. The Cabinet consists of 9

branches with members from different backgrounds and possibly ethnics to emphasize the

diversity.

Later, after the independence of the new state was proclaimed, the Cabinet is put

under the authority of a delegated President. After the short-lived Cabinet of President

Soekarno, who applied the Parliamentary Democracy (1949-1958) resign, the successors

under the Guided Democracy (1959-1956) then selected by the Prime Minister, which at

the request of the President and approval from the Parliament. In October 1967, President

Soekarno resigned replaced by President Soeharto with his Ampera Cabinet with

Pancasila Democracy.

Under the lead of both regimes, Soekarno and Soeharto, the Cabinet members are

trying to champion the idea of unity in diversity on their arrangement of bureaucracy.

 However, this paper will try to further explore the influence of bureaucracy towards the

governance of Indonesia and development of it. This paper will also assess the bureaucracy

works in under the polarized regimes of Soekarno and Soeharto, who supposed to be

strictly devoted to the State and does not exclusively participate in any political group, and

how it will eventually affect the current bureaucracy framework.

B. Research Questions

Based on the background that we had discussed before, here are some questions that

we will examine in the next part of the paper:

1) How is the condition of bureaucracy in the transfer of power from the old order of

Soekarno to the new order of Soeharto referring to the ideology of both polarized

leader?

2) What is the impact of both order in bureaucracy into todays bureaucracy?

C. The Discussion
1) The Condition of Bureaucracy in the Transfer of Power from Old Order to the

New Order

According to Hamzali (n.d), since the independence of Indonesia in 1945 up to

the new order, UUD 1945 positioned MPR (Peoples Consultative Assembly) has the

right to determine UUD, GBHN, and choosing President and Vice-president. Besides

that, there is DPR (House of Representatives), has the Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan (BPK)

that the duty is to watch over the states moneys and report their work to DPR and watch

over the President.

 Soekarno arranged the bureaucracy that could take over the territory of Indonesia

as a whole. In consructing his authority, Soekarno laid on political parties and military.

The political party that is so-called as NASAKOM (National, Religion and Communist)

is dominated by PKI. Military also hold over the domination moreover the victory in

West Irian.

The bureaucracy of government through the leading democracy (demokrasi

terpimpin) was stopped once Soeharto was elected as the President of Indonesia through

the command-letter of 11 Maret (Supersemar).

In 1947, Soeharto rearranged the bureaucracy through Keppres No. 44 year 1974

that arrange, first, the position of main job and the function of department. Second, the

organization structure department that consists of; a) The leaders element, b) Ministers, c)

the governments element: Inspectorate of General, d) organizers element: Directorate of

General, d) supervisors element: General of Inspectorate. Third, the way department

work. Forth, the position and ministers job. Fifth, secretariat of general. Sixth,

directorate general. Seven, inspector general. Eight, another unit of organizations. Ninth,

vertical instasion which is arranged in Keppres No. 45, year 1974.

2) The impact of both order in bureaucracy into todays bureaucracy

There is one word Jokowi said that he wanted to combine Soekarnos great idea of

Indonesia and Soehartos brilliant system of bureaucracy in his times (Maharani, 2015).
 This actually means that both order offered a good service of government system to the

society which resulted to the satisfaction of society increased.

If we see in todays bureaucracy, of course both order have contributed a lot. The

first General Election to be held was on Soekarno era (Ardiansyah, 2014), the people in

that era demanded the democracy to be applied and choose over the General Election in

term of electing the government. This impacted to Indonesia nowadays, with the

democracy system, where we use general election system in the election. Besides that,

Soekarno played a big role in deciding the ideology of Indonesia that becomes the

guidance of Indonesia people and especially the government system. Soekarno was the

one who proposed the idea of Pancasila, where we know that Pancasila is the ideology of

Indonesia.

In New order era (orde baru) that was led by Soeharto impacted to the laws of

Indonesia, for example, the ban of Indonesias communist party that was formed in

Soekarno era. The TAP MPR no. XXV 1966 still exist to this day (Setiawan, 2016), the

existence of PKI (Indonesias Communist Party) is still prohibited. Besides that an online

newspaper named Merdeka stated that one of the policy Soeharto made back in his era

was the privatization of BUMN (Badan Usaha Milik Negara) or State-owned Enterprises,

where Soeharto was intentionally relinquished BUMN from the structure of Ministry

(Moerti, 2014).

D. Conclusion
In conlusion, bureaucracy in Indonesia had already existed as indicated by the

very first Cabinet. The Cabinet which consisted of 9 brances with members from

different backgrounds and possibly ethnics to emphasize the diversity. They also had a
special task to perform and a hierarchy of authority. Then, as the time passed and as the

government system changed, the bureaucracy had differences between one regime to

another regime. As in the old order of Soekarno, he arranged the bureaucracy that could

take over the territory of Indonesia by laid on political parties and military which was

recognised as NASAKOM while in the new order of Soeharto, which rearranged the

bureaucracy through Keppres No. 44 year 1974 with some arrangements in it. And from

both orders bureaucracy, it gives impact into todays bureaucracy and that is in line with

what Jokowis willing to combine Soekarnos great idea of Indonesia and Soehartos

brilliant system of bureaucracy in his times which hope that resulted to the increasing of

societys satisfaction.
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