Under the hood of Kawal Menteri, a radical new site.
As Indonesia launches a new open government platform, Kawal Menteri, FutureGov caught up with the developers to discuss its eye-catching features. These include rating ministerial performance, tracking government projects and even seeing how wealthy members of the government are.
How the project tracker works
A section named “Prioritas” (priority) informs citizens about the most important programs that are implemented by the 34 ministries. It focuses on “the most important program of the minister, and then we will explain in that feature what the main objective is, [and] the policy measurements for this program,” explained Diding, a senior researcher at Inisiatif.
An example of a priority program is “One-stop Service”, which enables the public to apply for a business permit efficiently. If the average waiting time exceeds what is specified, citizens are encouraged to write in and detail their experiences. Once a business permit is released, Diding said, “we will provide this information to the people through our website, [show] that this is the priority program from the government, and invite people to report the case in their own experience”.
Information on the main objectives and important policy measures will be given by the volunteers working on Kawal Menteri.
Measuring ministerial performance
An index on the site measures the relative performance of ministers. “It is a simple way to communicate to wider public and government about ministerial performance”, says Diding, who manages this section.
On a 10 point scale, the inputs consist of 5 variables, namely, a minister’s interaction with the public, the priority programs implemented by a ministry, budgetary information and how a department improves its processes and results. Currently, because the site is new and input is scarce, each variable is given and equal weightage. These will be weighted accordingly based on importance in the future. The ratings of each variable are based on 3 components. These are public opinion based on the number of likes and dislikes, reports of actual case scenarios by the users, and quantitative data obtained from government documents. According to Diding, these indexes will be released to the press and the President every 3 months.
Tracking wealth of ministers
This feature sources for the wealth of ministers from a report provided by the Corruption Eradication Commision (KPK) in Indonesia. The Laporan Harta Kekayaan Penyelenggaraan Negara (LHKPN) reports on the wealth of higher-ranking government officials, and is released annually.
Managing accuracy of content
The site has a number of measures to try to keep its data accurate. First, it is able to trace the location of a sender. Second, the accuracy of its content will be checked by the administration in charge of these 34 ministries. Third, reports from citizens are collected for a week before they are skimmed through for accuracy. Stories are allowed to circulate online first without authentication to encourage a triangulation process. This involves a three-way input – starting with the public posting cases online, followed by users commenting on the reports, and lastly, the administration giving precise facts or analyses on these incidents.
Future plans
KM hopes to change the way governance is carried out in Indonesia by the way ministers evaluate their performance based on the IKM ratings. “If you believe that your performance is better, just provide us with evidence that supports your claim”, Diding says.
The site also aims to change the way ministers makes a decision for the public. There is yet to be an arena or vehicle for the public to be involved in debates. The site is still new and very much a work in progress, but it could prove to be a valuable asset for citizens and a powerful critic of Indonesia’s ministers.
Sumber : http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/5711-inside-indonesias-new-open-government-platform#.VGX4Q51-Y7w.facebook (akses 11/16/2014 10:55:41 AM)