ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews past efforts of the Indonesian parliament, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), to improve the accountability of the public sector management by creating Indonesia’s public accounts committee, Badan Akuntabilitas Keuangan Negara (BAKN). It is assumed that a functioning democracy should improve the welfare of people if public accountability works. The main function of BAKN was to follow up on audit reports submitted by the Indonesian Supreme Audit, Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan Republik Indonesia (BPK-RI), to DPR and, ultimately, help improve DPR’s role in supervising the use of state finance. Given the political, social, and economic environment of Indonesia, this was a challenging mission. This study used Stapenhurst et al.’s (2005) ideal committee to analyse BAKN’s ability to perform its mission. This study found BAKN was an ideal committee to improve public sector management in Indonesia. We argue that, given the current Indonesian political environment, this could be one of the reasons for BAKN’s dissolution in July 2014.
