Protracted Public Service Improvement at the Local Level

The article aims at examining the suitability of the policy agenda of public service certification for the prevalence of local governments' performance. I conduct qualitative approach with intensive data collection, considering of local context specificities upon which decentralization has been mainstreaming in the state structural reform in Indonesia. Although the public service standard takes into effects based on certain regulations derived from the Public Service Act 25/2009, efforts made by local government is deemed necessary. To make the study manageable, I conduct a case study qualitatively in Surabaya considering its prominence in local bureaucracy reform and innovation. I conduct a series of policy document analysis and in-depth interviews for data enquiry. I suggest that the implementation of public service certification is likely to lead to various adjustments towards strengthening the standards to be applied. Apart from categorizing the government services according to the different characteristics of each type of service, various structural adjustments are necessary according to the local context of each region. The local community involvement mechanism still needs improvements as standard enforcement in all regions so that public service certification is not only relevant but also an integral part of the local development improvement strategy.