Bureaucratic Reform and Changes in Public Service Paradigm Post-Decentralization in Indonesia: 2001-2010

This paper aimed to explain the link between bureaucracy and public services. The focus of the research was on bureaucratic reform and changes in the paradigm of public services after decentralization in Indonesia in the period 2001-2010. Several regions carried out bureaucratic reforms in order to provide optimal services, but of the approximately 440 regencies/cities in Indonesia at that time, most did not do so. By using qualitative methods, the authors found the following results: post-decentralization, bureaucratic behavior in public services did not undergo a paradigm shift; and bureaucratic reform as an effort to develop better public services could be achieved through building bureaucratic capacity and accountability. Based on the results, the authors provide recommendations: first, the pattern of personnel recruitment must change to a merit system; second, work standards and a system of rewards and punishments need to be developed; and third, the regional head must reform the bureaucracy with the support of the regional legislature. Keywords: decentralization policy, bureaucracy, public service, paradigm chang