Government Ethics in accordance to the Geopolitical Perspective

(Prof. Dr. Drs. Ermaya Suradinata, SH, MH, MSI, is the former Director General of Social and Political Affairs of the Indonesian Ministry of Home Affairs, Chancellor of IPDN, Governor of Lemhannas RI, and currently the Expert Council for Geopolitics and Geostrategy of BPIP RI.)

The numbers are significant: 170 regional heads in Indonesia leave their chair in September this year, including 17 governors from various provinces of Indonesia. The government will appoint an official (as known as “Penjabat”, abbreviated: Pj) to fill the vacant position until the regional head election which will be held in 2024.

Because if the position of regional head takes too long vacant, the guided regions can become boisterous, therefore it will have a significant impact on geopolitics and geostrategy, especially in areas that have a strategic role in national and regional policies.

Some of the impacts include regional stability, conflict-prone areas become more prone to instability, and security disturbances that can affect neighboring countries. In addition, this vacuum position can strengthen demands for separation or bifurcation of regions and increase tensions with the central government.

One thing that cannot be ignored is the vacancy in the position of regional head – it can also have a negative influence on government ethics, such as increasing the risk of corruption and abuse of power.

Because of that, government ethics is not only related to morals and integrity in the internal government, but also has a close relationship with geopolitics and geostrategy.

In a geopolitical sense, a strong governance ethic helps prevent harmful practices such as corruption and abuse of power. Apart from that, government ethics also influence the image and reputation of the region – which then spreads widely, internationally.

These causes result in poor governance ethics that inviting contempts from the international community, which affects the country’s position in international relations and geostrategy.

History also notes that countries that pay less attention to governance ethics are more likely to use military force and aggressive tactics, which can create tension and conflict at the geopolitical level.

Meanwhile, countries that have a system of cultural values, ethical government, in their international relations tend to become trusted partners by other countries. As well as being firm on sovereignty to facilitate the formation of strategic alliances and partnerships.

With this eager hope for those implementation, there is a close relationship between the hope that government ethics will become part of this nation’s culture. The development of this attitude ensures the growth of government ethics so that government runs fairly, wisely and responsibly.

 This hope is not a utopia – in fact it seems to be crystallized, and sparks, especially when this hope occurs in the implementation of government ethics based on Pancasila, then Indonesia can continue to develop into a just, democratic and prosperous country for all its people.

Therefore, government ethics based on Pancasila must at the same time also become an Indonesian cultural value system. Because this plays an important role in forming and maintaining an effective and credible government system.

Of course, this would be an exaggeration – if it were just a slogan. Just used as a byword. Therefore, in a society that is already so keen to make corrections to government ethics, the only way to build public trust in the government is obligatory through leaders and officials who actually behave honestly, fairly and transparently.

Through government ethics that are widely and in depth presented, people can see and feel the justice and equality in policies implemented for the benefit of the entire community.

Therefore, it is worth considering that if the nomination of regional heads goes beyond a certain period of time, moreover exceeding September this year, it will very likely have a negative influence on government ethics, such as increasing the risk of corruption and abuse of power.

It can also impact regional stability, conflict-prone areas become more vulnerable to instability, and strengthen security disturbances that can affect neighboring countries.