Finance Ministry on the up: Survey

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Finance Ministry and its improving service standards reportedly brought satisfaction to 63.6 percent of respondents surveyed by the University of Indonesia in 2007.

Presenting the survey findings during a hearing with a commission of the House of Representatives, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the survey validated the performance of the ministry throughout last year.

"Only about 6.9 percent were unhappy with our services while the remaining 29.4 percent were relatively satisfied," she said.

The survey, which was conducted in Medan, Jakarta, Surabaya, Balikpapan and Makassar, said respondents from Jakarta appeared least happy, with 50.4 percent of respondents satisfied and 9.8 percent dissatisfied.

The highest number of satisfied respondents came from Balikpapan with 79.8 percent and 11.9 percent dissatisfied.

Makassar came second in the satisfaction chart, followed by Surabaya, Medan and Jakarta.

The survey also indicated the Treasury Directorate General was the best performing among the other directorates under the ministry such as the Tax Directorate General and the Capital Market Supervisory Agency.

"We will continue to review the job evaluations and personal assessment of our officials and staff members," Sri said during a meeting with the Commission XI of the House on Wednesday.

She said she would urge a competition between officials to increase public satisfaction levels toward her Ministry in the next years.

She also said the ministry would cut-off the remuneration of officials if they failed to meet performance expectations.

"The University of Indonesia will keep doing regular surveys on performance levels," said Mulyani.

However, Dradjad Hari Wibowo, a House member from the National Mandate Party faction said the performance of the ministry was still far from "satisfying".

"The annual revenue of the tax wasn't reported transparently, as it only showed the percentage tax paid, not the amount," Dradjad said.

"It's quite strange that two days before the closing day of the tax income, it reported the state had received only around Rp 46 billion (about US$4.9 million) and now it's reported as exceeding the minimum target," he said.

He also said the measurement of the survey was unclear as the details of the respondents, including numbers and their backgrounds, were unknown.

"It's unclear whether the respondents were bureaucrats or ordinary people," Dradjad said.

"Sri Mulyani graduated from the University which conducted the survey.

"I wonder why she didn't use the more experienced ones like LSI survey agency." (rtf)