Seeking Network Governance in a Decentralised Indonesia: The Case of Public Sector Innovation in Batang Regency

Abstraksi

This research is triggered by the ambivalent outcomes of decentralisation policy in Indonesia. While some local governments have engaged in public sector innovations to improve service delivery and introduce better public management practices (Bunnel, et al., 2013), many other local governments still deliver deficient performance and bad governance (Rosser, et al., 2011). This research focuses on governance innovations (UPKP2 Local Ombudsman and Budget Festival) in Batang Regency, Central Java Province under several considerations, including: 1. While the former Regent and Local Council Chairmen were sentenced due to corruption case, in contrast, Regent Yoyok Riyo Sudibyo (2012-2017) prioritised governance innovations which have been acknowledged by various institutions, including the awarding of Bung Hatta Anti-Corruption Award. 2. Both Regent Yoyok and Vice Regent Soetadi have no affiliation to the political party. Alternatively, they embraced local NGOs (Laskar Batang, Omah Tani, Lakpesdam NU) in public innovations and maintained a close relation with national-based watchdog NGOs (TII, ICW). 3. The Incumbents did not run for second-term in the 2017 Local Election. This distance enables the participants of this research (politicians, bureaucrats, academics, and NGO activists) to express their opinion freely about the outcome of leadership and governance innovations in Batang. This interpretative research explores the network governance (Rhodes, 1997, Osborne, 2006, Sorensen and Torfing, 2011) in public sector innovation in Batang Regency, as well as the pathway of civil society engagement in such public innovation. Moreover, this study would provide insight into new governance mode that can be used by state and non-state actors to improve governance outcomes.