Indonesia’s Civil Service in the New Order: Consolidation, Growth, and Change

Abstract

The performance and character of governmental bureaucracies affect not only policy making and implementation but, in the long term, regime support as well. Political leaders therefore try to control and use them for various purposes. The Indonesian civil bureaucracy underwent numerous changes in the 1974-84 period, which reflect both regime policies and broader societal and political changes. This paper utilizes data from the 1974 reregistration of civil servants and subsequent updates. It analyses the rapid growth of the bureaucracy, the changing distribution across Ministries, the implications of the growth of the middle ranks, and changing patterns of performance.