LAPOR!-SP4N Quality Improvements (ID0101)

January 2019 - December 2020
Commitment Description
Lead implementing
agency/actor
Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform
Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 25/2009 on
Public Services mandates the creation of a national
public service complaint handling system. This
mandate was strengthened through the issued
Presidential Regulation Number 76/2013 on
Management of Public Service Complaints. In 2016,
LAPOR! is confirmed as National Public Service
Complaint Management System (SP4N) based on the
Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform
Regulation Number 3/2015. Currently LAPOR! -SP4N
has been connected with 88 K / L, 135 Local
Governments, 128 National Universities and
Coordination of Private Universities (Kopertis), 131
Indonesian Representatives abroad and 116
state-owned enterprises in Indonesia. The existence
of LAPOR! -SP4N began to be widely known by the
public, as seen from the number of complaints coming
in as many as 1,180,609 complaints (as of 2017).
However there are still a number of challenges faced
by LAPOR-SP4N, including (i) the number of reports
being followed up is still low; (ii) the integration
process at the local government level is still slow,
even tends to be only a formality (limited to the
decree) without the support of adequate facilities and
infrastructure; (iii) the response of the LAPOR! -SP4N
manager who has not yet managed to satisfy the
reporter and tends not to solve the problem; (iv) data
of complaints through LAPOR!.
What is the public problem that
the commitment will address?
Increasing the numbers of reports and the quality of
resolution on Public Service Complaints through
LAPOR!-SP4N. The increasing is marked by more
public institutions are connected with LAPOR! and
LAPOR!-SP4N supervision is categorized as good.
What is the commitment?
The challenges faced by LAPOR!-SP4N will be
overcome through a number of strategic commitments
that must be carried out by the Ministry of
Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, The
Executive Office of the President and the Ombudsman
of the Republic of Indonesia.
First, Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic
Reform The Executive Office of the President and the
Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia must set a basic standard which will become the reference for the
complaint management formed by
Ministries/Departments, Local Government,
State-owned Enterprises. The product of this
commitment can be in the form of SOP or Complaint
Handling Manual. The existence of these basic
standards will maintain quality standards in handling
complaints.
Second, the Ministry of Administrative and
Bureaucratic Reform, The Executive Office of the
President and the Ombudsman of the Republic of
Indonesia need to form a task force to provide
technical assistance to the complaints management
unit in K / L, Local Government, and State-owned
Enterprises. Assistance will be adjusted to the level of
existing needs, the scope of which includes the
process of forming a complaint management unit,
LAPOR!-SP4N set-up, capacity building of the
management team, and the evaluation of complaint
handling. In addition to this, it will strengthen the
synergy between the Ministry of Administrative
Reform, The Executive Office of the President and the
Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia with
stakeholders in providing assistance to the complaints
management unit.
Third, to ensure that complaints are handled correctly,
the existence of standard standards is not enough. A
more strategic forum is needed, involving policymakers
and strategic stakeholders to evaluate and analyze the
trends of complaints coming in. This forum can also be
positioned as a policy forum because it will use
complaint data as a basis for developing policy
measures to improve public services.
Fourth, the publication of complaints handling status
including the respondent's satisfaction response. This
information is important to be published as part of
public control over the performance of public service
complaint handling. For reporters, this information will
make it easier for them to monitor the status of their
reports.
● This commitment will open access to information
about the development of broader complaints
handling to the public, o that it can increase public
participation in monitoring the government.
● Increasing the quality of access to public services
because of improvements in services as the result
of the follow up to complaints so as to encourage
public service accountability.
● Strengthening the synergy between policymaker,
stakeholder and the public in reviewing complaints
data for policy improvement recommendation.
Why is this commitment relevant
to OGP values? ● This commitment is in line with the 5th National
Priority, especially in the "Legal Certainty and
Bureaucratic Reform" Priority Program.
● An assistance team has been established by the
Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic
Reform by involving the Ombudsman of the
Republic of Indonesia and The Executive Office of
the President.
● Piloting can be synergized with choices of the
regions that have been accompanied by the
Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic
Reform.
1. Increase LAPOR!-SP4N
penetration in government
institutions (target 500 institutions)
January 2019 December 2019
2. The complaint reports through
LAPOR!-SP4N have been followed
up (target increased by 25%)
January 2020 December 2020
3. Improvement of LAPOR
management performance by gov
institutions (target increased by
15%)
September 2020 December 2020

10. Quality Improvement on Public Service Complaints Resolution through LAPOR!-SP4N

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

Increasing the numbers of reports and the quality of resolution on Public Service Complaints through LAPOR!-SP4N. The increasing is marked by more public institutions are connected with LAPOR! and LAPOR!-SP4N supervision is categorized as good.

Milestones:

1. Increase LAPOR!-SP4N penetration in government institutions (target 500 institutions)
2. The complaint reports through LAPOR!-SP4N have been followed up (target increased by 25%)
3. Improvement of LAPOR management performance by government institutions (target increased by 15%)

Start Date: January 2019                                                               End Date: December 2020

Context and Objectives

Multiple commitments in Indonesia’s fourth action plan helped ensure the integration of LAPOR! and the National Public Service Complaints Management System (SP4N) into LAPOR!-SP4N. Through those commitments, administration of the LAPOR!-SP4N system was transferred from the President’s Executive Office to the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform. The system saw continued increase in total complaints received and registered users.

During the consultation process, ^[111] the government identified several challenges to the continued development of LAPOR!-SP4N. All 34 ministries, 97 non-structural institutions, and 302 local governments have been connected to the LAPOR!-SP4N system. ^[112] However, only 50% comply with standard procedures and consistently respond to complaints. ^[113] At the same time, LAPOR!-SP4N has continued to see an increase in the number of users and received complaints, 686,840 and 1,228,416 respectively by the end of 2017. ^[114] Nonetheless, relative to the 143.26 million people with internet access (54.68% of the total population), ^[115] LAPOR!-SP4N’s penetration among the public is still marginal.

The government also does not have any existing standards that outline how government institutions respond to public complaints. As a result, the government has been inconsistent in responding to public complaints. YAPPIKA-ActionAid, a CSO who co-created this commitment, also noted regression in the performance of LAPOR!-SP4N following the transfer of its management from the President’s Executive Office to the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform. ^[116] Problems included the Ministry’s lack of capacity in managing public complaints, inadequate infrastructure, and unclear regulations.

Through this commitment, the government aims to integrate 500 additional government institutions into LAPOR!-SP4N, increase higher complaint-response rates by 25%, and enhance the compliance of government institutions with LAPOR!-SP4N standards by 15%. This commitment will encourage more citizens to use LAPOR!-SP4N in monitoring public services and improve government’s responsiveness toward public complaints.

To achieve these objectives, the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform will collaborate with the President’s Executive Office and the Ombudsman’s office to develop a standard procedure for complaint management. This follows recommendations in a previous IRM report ^[117] highlighting the need for a clear response procedure. To strengthen the capacity and accountability of government institutions in managing complaints, the three offices will form a joint task force to provide technical assistance for ministries, institutions, state-owned enterprises, and local governments.

To further ensure that public complaints effect improved public service delivery, this commitment will establish a strategic forum of government and civil society stakeholders. The forum will evaluate the quality of public service delivery by assessing public complaints and providing data to citizens that can be used to develop better policies. Additionally, as also recommended in the previous IRM report, the government will incorporate a new feature for citizens to evaluate government’s response to their complaints in the form of a satisfaction rating system.

An aspect that was neglected during development of this commitment was the management of public information requests filed by citizens through the LAPOR!-SP4N system. As of December 2017, LAPOR!-SP4N has received a total of 145,573 public information requests, ^[118] second only to service complaints among all categories of complaints in the system. In response to this, YAPPIKA-ActionAid expressed concerns over the Ministry’s lack of engagement with the Central Information Commission. ^[119] As the independent authority responsible to ensure compliance with the Information Disclosure Law, the Information Commission could play a pivotal role in ushering improved access to information for citizens related to public service complaints. The Information Commission has also expressed concerns over the government’s lack of engagement with the Commission in resolving information requests on the LAPOR!-SP4N system. ^[120]

The scope of this commitment reaches multiple stages of the government’s management of complaints. For citizens, there will be a clear mechanism to help them understand how the government responds to their complaints. For government institutions, there will be a clear procedure to respond better to public complaints and to take appropriate actions in response. This will represent a major improvement as there is currently no standard procedure governing how the LAPOR!-SP4N team must manage complaints and what constitutes a “resolved” complaint. At the end of the process, these data will also be used to influence the government’s policies. Overall, if implemented properly, this commitment could transform the way that citizens are able to hold government accountable and effect policy changes.

According to YAPPIKA-ActionAid, [121] LAPOR!-SP4N is flawed in that it does not require government institutions to provide evidence on how they responded to and resolved a complaint. Government institution may mark a complaint as “resolved” as long as they have provided a response to the complaint. Therefore, this commitment to create a clearer mechanism to resolve complaints submitted to the LAPOR!-SP4N system could create a transformative change in its process.

Next Steps

To improve the quality of complaint-management through LAPOR!-SP4N, the government should:

• Coordinate between the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, the President’s Executive Office, and the Ombudsman’s office, as well as civil society, to closely monitor the implementation of this commitment;
• Engage the Information Commission in ensuring transparency of the complaint- management process pursuant to the Public Information Service Law;
• Collect feedback from government institutions and citizens to identify the challenges that both government and citizens experience in using LAPOR!-SP4N;
• Develop a standard procedure and detailed complaint-management guidelines for government institutions to respond to public complaints; and
• Develop a comprehensive strategy with civil society to raise awareness of LAPOR!-SP4N among the public to encourage greater use of the system in monitoring public service delivery.

[111] Open Government Indonesia National Secretariat, “Pembahasan Rencana Aksi Keterbukaan Pemerintah 2018–2020: Peningkatan Kualitas Penyelesaian Pengaduan Pelayanan Publik dalam LAPOR!-SP4N” (2018), https://drive.bappenas.go.id/owncloud/index.php/s/9EVHNJTsybFPnH9?path=%2FNotulensi%20Pertemuan%20Bilateral#pdfviewer.

[112] LAPOR!-SP4N, “Sistem Penanganan Pengaduan Pelayanan Publik Nasional” (2017), https://drive.google.com/file/d/11s1jx3RmldZ5LysEv3EjaflF0sHMraah/view.

[113] Ibid.

[114] Ibid.

[115] Indonesia Internet Service Provider Association, "Penetrasi & Perilaku Pengguna Internet Indonesia 2017" (2017), https://web.kominfo.go.id/sites/default/files/Laporan%20Survei%20APJII_2017_v1.3.pdf.

[116] Hendrik Rosdinar (YAPPIKA-ActionAid), interview by IRM researcher, 9 Mar. 2019.

[117] Open Government Partnership, “Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Indonesia Progress Report 2016–2017” (2018), 52, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Indonesia_Mid-Term_Report_2016-2017_EN.pdf.

[118] LAPOR!-SP4N, “Sistem Penanganan Pengaduan Pelayanan Publik Nasional.”

[119] Rosdinar, interview.

[120] Aditya Nuriya (Central Information Commission), interview by IRM researcher, 11 Mar. 2019.

[121] Rosdinar, interview.

10. Quality Improvement on Public Service Complaints Resolution through SP4N-LAPOR!

Complete:

Did it open government?

Marginal

This commitment aimed to improve government responsiveness to citizen complaints by strengthening SP4N-LAPOR!, the national public service complaints management system. In particular, the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform intended to connect 500 government institutions to SP4N-LAPOR!, increase the number of government institutions with good complaints management by 15%, and increase follow-up to complaints by 25%.

By 2020, 34 ministries, 100 institutions, and 523 local governments were connected to SP4N-LAPOR!, exceeding a target of 500 government institutions. This reflected a marginal improvement since 2018, with a 6% increase in the number of connected local governments, rising from 493 to 523, as well as a 4% increase in the number of connected government institutions, rising from 96 to 100. ^[19] The number of government agencies with good complaints management (handle more than 50% of complaints) increased by 31%, rising from 122 to 160 agencies between 2019 and November 2020, exceeding the target of a 15% increase. Additionally, 35% of SP4N-LAPOR! complaint reports received follow-ups (65,366 of 188,937 total reports) in November 2020, ^[20] exceeding the target of 25%. This reflected a marginal increase since 2018, when 31% of reports received follow-up. ^[21] The sixth action plan aimed to continue strengthening SP4N-LAPOR!.

As of October 2020, COVID-19 was a frequent topic of complaints, along with education, civil registration, digital financial services, and employment. ^[22] In the first quarter of 2020, there were 240 COVID-19 related complaints. [23] According to USAID, improvements to SP4N-LAPOR! laid the groundwork for more effective resolution of these complaints, with the majority of COVID-19 related complaints resolved within two days during 2020. [24] UNDP notes that some of this feedback included actionable recommendations. For example, in response to many SP4N-LAPOR! requests for more COVID-19 awareness materials on social media, the Ministry of Health began distributing such materials. [25] This use of SP4N-LAPOR! was increasingly salient in the first quarter of 2021, with 1,663 COVID-19 related complaints. [26]

This commitment’s implementation was undergirded by open communication channels between the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform and its civil society counterparts, the Center for Regional and Information Studies (PATTIRO), and YAPPIKA—although personnel turnover within the ministry caused challenges in maintaining a point of contact. Implementation also benefited from a stable government budget allocation and support from USAID. In addition, to enhance uptake of SP4N-LAPOR!, PATTIRO and YAPPIKA conducted public discussions encouraging utilization of the system for submission of complaints, as well as trainings for local governments in nine districts on management of the system. [27] These training were targeted to regions with poor complaints management, based on monitoring and evaluation conducted by the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform. [28] Complementing the commitment’s efforts, public engagement campaigns contributed to 50% more Indonesians accessing SP4N-LAPOR! between 2018 and 2020, with the number of users increasing from 766,237 to 1,145,944 users. [29]

According to USAID, improvements to SP4N-LAPOR! have given citizens greater access to more accountable government. [30] The Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform’s Public Service Index showed a positive trajectory, rising from a score of 3.39 to 3.84 between 2018 and 2020, tracking public service provision, personnel professionalism, facilities, information systems, complaints management, and innovation. [31] The International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) sees developments under this commitment as routine expansions of the SP4N-LAPOR! system. [32] PATTIRO emphasizes that further surveying is needed to determine this commitment’s impact on the quality of government bodies’ responses to citizen complaints and on public service provision. [33]