Instrumentalizing community participation with responsive legal internalization in the public sector selection process

Abstract

There is considerable public demand for transparency and accountability in the selection of public officials due to their responsibility for realizing people's welfare. However, especially in Indonesia, the selection of public officials is still fraught with administrative violations and policy problems, despite the implemented merit system. A form of community participation is necessary as a control mechanism, and this can be realized through instruments under a responsive legal paradigm with the spirit of community participation. This study aims to analyze the public participation needed in the selection of public officials in Indonesia and how community participation can be instrumentalized in the selection of public officials as a form of responsive legal internalization. This research makes use of deductive thinking with a case and conceptual approach. The method used allows us to determine the urgency of the need for public participation in the election of public officials. The results of the study show that the need for bureaucratic reform towards a responsive bureaucracy and the need for preventive control of the bureaucracy are reasons proving the necessity of public participation in the selection of public officials in Indonesia. Moreover, the instrumentalization of community participation in the selection of public officials as a form of responsive legal internalization can be realized by establishing a means of community participation in the checking of track records and other components and parameters of participatory assessment.