Dede Yusuf: Proactive Outreach Services Can Break the Chain of Illegal Fees

PARLEMENTARIA, Bekasi — Difficulty accessing public services independently often fuels illegal fee-taking through costly intermediaries. Deputy Chair of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives Dede Yusuf says this remains a challenge in many regions.

Dede made the remarks to Parlementaria after leading a working visit by Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives to Bekasi City, West Java, on Friday (13/11/2026). The meeting at Bekasi City Hall was also attended by the Deputy Mayor of Bekasi, department heads, the Chief of the Indonesian Ombudsman, and representatives of the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform.

“Sometimes illegal fees are also charged because people do not come in person and instead ask someone else to handle things for them. This is particularly difficult when there is a saying that taking care of things yourself is difficult, so people entrust them to a mediator. The mediator then upgrades the fees to much higher amounts,” Dede said.

To close this loophole, Dede praised several Bekasi City Government initiatives to bring services closer to the public, from providing services at the neighborhood-village level to recording students’ ID cards at schools so they do not have to visit the Population and Civil Registration Office.

“What Bekasi City is doing to prevent this is taking services directly to the people. Officials go out to meet residents, and public service offices have been set up in neighborhoods, right down to the neighborhood-village level. This effectively cuts out the chain of mediators, and we consider it a good breakthrough,” he said.

He also praised the whistleblower policy adopted by the Bekasi City Government, including a mechanism to provide double compensation to residents harmed by public services. He said this was an innovation that relatively few other local governments have implemented.

Nevertheless, Dede stressed that the effectiveness of these initiatives must be monitored regularly. He recommended involving the Indonesian Ombudsman to ensure that the policies being implemented genuinely improve the quality of public services.

“But this kind of breakthrough also includes having a whistleblower regulation stating that anyone who is harmed can report it and receive double compensation. That is good, too. We consider it a real breakthrough, one that few other regions have adopted,” concluded the Democratic Party politician. (nap/rdn)