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Abstract

This paper seeks to provide conceptual and empirical justifications for civil servants to engage in disobedience to curb bureaucratic pathology. Various civil servants have long complained that they face illegal instructions from their superiors. The cases discussed here are from public procurement, which has a dimension of political corruption, a recurring problem in many places in Indonesia. Thus, the problem shall be seen as a bureaucratic pathology rather than as maladministration. As the reporting of superiors to legal enforcers may be too risky, the disobedience can be accomplished by refusing to cooperate with superiors who give illegal instructions. The term 'superiors' here focuses on positions in government held by politicians, temporary positions obtained through elections, such as president, governor, mayor or regent, and temporary political positions given by appointment to a particular person, such as that of minister. There are four arguments in favour of civil servant disobedience. First, civil servant disobedience is rooted in the concept of civil disobedience, which has certain virtues and has been globally accepted. Second, legal justification dictates that civil servants' loyalty is not to their superiors but primarily to society and the law. Third, a cost–benefit analysis based on several court decisions, interviews and risk factor mapping reveals that the benefits to bureaucrats of following illegal instructions from politicians are less than the risks and sanctions. Fourth, from a religious sociological perspective, religion requires obedience only to God, not servitude to man or worldly interests. The justifications offered here for civil servant disobedience may be applicable to the Indonesian context and serve as food for thought for any country facing similar situations.

Bahasa Abstract

Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk memberikan justifikasi konseptual dan empiris untuk melakukan pembangkangan pegawai negeri sipil guna mencegah patologi birokrasi. Aneka pegawai negeri sipil di Indonesia telah lama mengeluh tentang menghadapi instruksi ilegal dari atasan mereka. Kasus kasus yang didiskusikan disini adalah kasus korupsi politik pada sektor pengadaan barang jasa pemerintah. Ini adalah masalah berulang di aneka tempat. Maka, problem ini harus dilihat sebagai patologi birokrasi dan bukan sebagai maladministrasi. Mengingat melaporkan atasan ke penegak hukum dapat dipandang terlalu beresiko; maka, pembangkangan dapat dilakukan dengan menolak untuk bekerja sama menjalankan instruksi ilegal. Istilah ‘atasan’ di sini berfokus pada posisi sementara dalam pemerintahan yang dipegang oleh politisi yang diperoleh melalui pemilihan umum, yaitu Presiden, Gubernur, Walikota, Bupati, atau posisi apa pun yang diberikan melalui penunjukan oleh mereka kepada orang tertentu, seperti Menteri. Terdapat empat argumen untuk melakukan ketidakpatuhan birokrat. Pertama, pembangkangan birokrat berakar pada konsep pembangkangan sipil yang secara konsep sudah diterima oleh masyarakat global sebagai hal yang dapat dijustifikasi dan memiliki kebaikan. Kedua, esensi norma hukum menyatakan bahwa loyalitas pegawai negeri bukan kepada atasannya, melainkan lebih pada masyarakat dan sistem hukum. Ketiga, berdasarkan analisa biaya manfaat dari aneka putusan peradilan korupsi politik pada pengadaan barang jasa, wawancara, dan pemetaan faktor resiko, ditemukan bahwa keuntungan yang diperoleh birokrat dengan mengikuti instruksi ilegal tidak sebanding dengan risiko dan sanksi yang akan diterima. Keempat, dari perspektif sosiologis, agama mengharuskan ketaatan hanya kepada Tuhan, bukan penghambaan kepada manusia atau kepentingan duniawi. Argumentasi untuk melakukan pembangkangan birokrat yang ditawarkan di tulisan ini dapat digunakan tidak hanya untuk konteks Indonesia, tetapi juga sebagai bahan pemikiran bagi negara manapun yang menghadapi permasalahan serupa.

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