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The government is set to finalize a bill on bureaucratic transparency that would force officials to explain their decisions if the public demanded them to.

The bill on government administration, currently being drafted by the State Ministry for Administrative Reform, will be submitted to the House of Representatives once completed.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed support for the bill, saying at a cabinet meeting last week that it would make policy-making more transparent.

“If there is an abuse or violation, there is a clear consequence [and] a sanction so that the system will work well and the result will be better,” he said.

“Everything has regulations, rules and standard operating procedures,” he added.

“There seems to be this idea that government officials don’t need to abide by administrative regulations.”

Ronald Rofiandri, the director of advocacy at the Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK), said if the bill was passed into law, citizens and low-ranking government officers would have more power to hold officials accountable.

“The law would oblige officials such as governors or district heads to provide explanations about a decision they made,” he said on Sunday.

Ronald said the law was expected to give people the legal right to seek justifications for programs and policies.

It would also improve access to pertinent documents related to these policies, he said.

The best feature of the bill, he said, was a provision that encouraged constituents to report suspicions of wrongdoing.

Government workers would also be given the chance to dispute their superiors’ decisions if they deemed them “suspicious.”

Sanctions will be imposed on those found guilty of corruption or abuse of power.

“This is good because it would make the government officials more careful,” Ronald said.

The draft is one of several measures initiated by the state to reform the bureaucracy.

These include proposals to amend the 1974 Civil Service Law as well as moves to craft laws on officials’ ethics and public service.

Yudhoyono said the draft bill on transparency would help address corruption and red tape — both of which hampered the country’s progress.

“Good governance, including effective bureaucracy, has not been fully formed,” he said.

In June last year, a Political and Economic Risk Consultancy survey of business executives showed that Indonesia had the region’s second-most inefficient bureaucracy, next to India.

Ranking 12 key countries on a scale from one to 10, with 10 as the worst possible score, Indonesia scored 8.59.

The president said he hoped the bill, once approved, would ensure that the government would be effective, accountable and responsive to the people’s needs.

Ganjar Pranowo, deputy chairman of House Commission II which oversees domestic affairs, said the transparency bill was urgently needed.

“There is no regulation on government administration so far,” he said on Sunday, adding that the absence of such rules led some officials to become irresponsible decision-makers.

Ganjar said setting up a feedback mechanism would ensure that officials would perform their duties well.