The Role of Ombudsman in Improving Accountability of Government Public Services

Abstract

The problem of public services in Indonesia is still a thorny problem. The accountability aspect is the main focus in improving the quality of public services where the government must explain openly, completely, and fairly, and be accountable to the public. This study aims to answer how the role of the Ombudsman as a public service supervisor in increasing the accountability of government public services. This research is a case study of West Sulawesi. By using Romzek and Dubnick's accountability theory, this study tries to describe the accountability that occurs in government and then tries to see the role of the Ombudsman in increasing that accountability. The sampling method uses snowball sampling where we will conduct interviews with representatives of the Ombudsman from West Sulawesi. The results showed that the role of the Ombudsman in improving public service accountability was still low. With the type IV accountability scenario, the Ombudsman is still lacking in efforts to encourage increased accountability. The low role is due to the authority mandated by law and the absence of a reward and punishment system for taking corrective actions or recommendations issued by the ombudsman. Keywords—Ombudsman, accountability, public services