Various corruption cases involving law enforcement officials reduce public trust. In fact, public trust plays an important role in economic growth. How can the government restore public trust?
Negative news related to state institutions in the last year has changed. The court has decided to sentence a high-ranking National Police official for premeditated murder and is currently trying a drug case involving other high-ranking National Police officials.
Not long afterward, two Supreme Court judges were arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for bribery.
As a result, public trust decreases. Transparency International's report, last January, showed that Indonesia was in sixth place in ASEAN and 110th globally in terms of the Corruption Perception Index in 2022. The highest was Singapore (5th best globally), followed by Malaysia (61), Timor Leste (77), Vietnam (77), Thailand (101), and Indonesia (110).
In the last month, the news has been dominated by the increase in the ill-gotten wealth of several officials within the Ministry of Finance. In fact, there is an irregularity in the transaction value which is suspected to be related to money laundering crimes reaching IDR 349 trillion, according to Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs M Mahfud MD. These transactions involve hundreds of employees from various ministries and other institutions in the last 14 years.
Of course it will be interesting to see how the public reacts. In general, the Kompas R&D survey shows a decrease in public satisfaction with government performance compared to the beginning of last year. Indications of corruption among officials within the Directorate General of Taxes have led to calls not to pay taxes.
How should the government restore public trust?
Corruption and public trust
The last five decades show the important role of public (social) trust in economic growth. The facts show that developed countries have societies that trust each other (interpersonal trust) and trust their government (institutional trust)—a high trust society. In contrast, developing countries are characterized as low trust societies.
From various studies conducted, social trust can be capital for growing the economy. A study by Kalish et al (2021) shows that a country's gross domestic product (GDP) will increase if 50 percent of the population trusts each other. Specifically for Indonesia, the increase in GDP could reach 2.3 percent (equivalent to IDR 374 trillion).
Public trust will also strengthen democratic and efficient governance. At the micro level, public trust will reduce transaction costs and increase innovation in the products produced.
The main cause of the decline in public trust, especially institutional trust, is corruption. There are two views on the role of corruption in development. First, corruption acts as grease for the wheels that drives and grows the economy. Suboptimal economic growth due to the inefficiency of existing regulations is facilitated by corruption.
Second, corruption becomes the sand of the wheels because it prevents production efficiency and innovation so that the economy grows not optimally. Recent studies show that the second role is dominant. Corruption in the long term has a cumulative impact, in the form of a decline in GDP of 17 percent when perceptions of corruption in a country increase (Grundler and Potrafke, 2019). This negative impact was followed by a decline in investment from abroad and increased inflation.
Restore trust
Trust is a psychological condition in which vulnerability can still be accepted because of positive expectations about the intentions and actions of another party. In the context of government, the public believes that the government will always try to provide prosperity and justice for Indonesia. A breach of trust occurs when positive expectations do not match reality.
A breach of trust will create a crisis. There are four stages of crisis according to crisis life cycle theory (Fink, 1986). The first is "Prodromal", namely when violations occur and accumulate. Reporting of unfair transactions since 2009 and involving more than 460 employees within the Ministry of Finance is included in this stage.
However, the impact of the follow-up report has yet to be seen.
The next stage is "Acute", namely when the attention becomes wider and occurs in a short time. Starting from the beating incident, public attention focused on the flexing of the perpetrator, who was actually the son of an official within the Directorate General of Taxes in South Jakarta.
In just a short time, various wealth and irregular transactions began to be exposed by and to the public. As a result, the public is increasingly paying attention to the flexing that has been carried out on social media by government officials and their families.
The third stage is "Chronic", namely when the approach used is effective so that the impact of the crisis begins to weaken even though it takes a long time.
Finally, the "Termination" stage, with the impact of the crisis gradually disappearing. However, anticipating the presence of new crises in the future must still be done.
To restore trust, there are three approaches offered by Xie and Peng (2010). First, the "Affective" approach, such as showing attention to the party affected by the violation that occurred, conveying an apology and acknowledgment to the public, or promising not to repeat the violation.
Second, an "informational" approach by communicating to the public why the violation occurred, clarifying untrue rumors, and disclosing true information.
Third, the "Functional" approach by providing compensation to parties whose trust has been violated.
The latest research conducted by Zhang et al (2021) shows that the approach taken must be adjusted to the stage of the crisis being experienced.
At the "Acute" stage, an effective approach is "Affective". This approach will relieve negative public sentiment regarding the current crisis. When a crisis enters the "chronic" stage, the approach that needs to be taken is "informational". When the public loses trust in an organization, providing the requested information will be effective in reducing the crisis that occurs.
The "Termination" stage will be effective if you use a "Functional" approach. Providing compensation to those affected, improving procedures and monitoring mechanisms, or mitigating the risk of future crises can be carried out so that the crisis ends quickly and does not happen again in the future.
Recommendation
The crisis of public trust in the government is a common concern. Moreover, many empirical studies show the negative impact it has, especially on the nation's social and economic aspects.
Structured, systematic and massive efforts are needed so that public trust in the government and its apparatus is quickly restored. Recovery will be optimal if the approach used is appropriate to the stage of crisis experienced.
Of course, preventing a crisis of confidence from occurring is very important. This task is not only the responsibility of the government and its apparatus, but of all the nation's children.
Together we proactively restore and maintain the nation's social trust. Don't let us lose momentum to become a developed country in 2045 because of a lack of public trust, both interpersonal and institutional trust.
Economic growth will be less than optimal and the threat of a middle income trap will become real. The task of national leaders, both now and in the future, is to make Indonesia a high trust society as the basic foundation for the nation's progress.
Badri Munir Sukoco Professor of Strategic Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Director of Postgraduate School Universitas Airlangga
https://www.kompas.id/baca/opini/2023/03/23/memulihkan-kebelian-publik
