Menpan RB: Many Agencies Submit Postponement of CPNS Appointment

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, Rini Widyantini, has finally disclosed a series of reasons for the delay in the appointment of prospective civil servants and prospective government employees with work agreements. In addition to an agreement with Commission II of the DPR, the decision was also made because many agencies requested a postponement in the appointment of prospective state civil apparatus. Several government agencies also still require time to synchronize data, particularly regional governments that have just concluded local elections.

Rini Widyantini, when contacted on Sunday (9/3/2025), revealed that the government's decision to simultaneously appoint candidates for civil servants (CPNS) and candidates for government employees with work agreements (PPPK) was in accordance with the agreement between the government and Commission II of the DPR. The appointment of CPNS, initially scheduled for February 22 to March 23, 2025, was postponed to October 1, 2025. Similarly, the appointment of PPPK candidates, originally planned for February 2025 for phase 1 and July 2025 for phase 2, was rescheduled to March 1, 2026.

Therefore, Rini said, it is not true if the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform is considered to have misinterpreted the results of the agreement with Commission II of the DPR. "In my opinion, I did not misinterpret it. I have also checked with the leadership of Commission II of the DPR, it is indeed the same. The government does want a simultaneous TMT (starting date)," said Rini.

Previously, the Deputy Chairperson of Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR) from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (F-PDIP), Aria Bima, stated that the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (Kemenpan and RB) had misinterpreted the conclusions of the meeting with Commission II of the DPR. According to him, there was no decision from Commission II of the DPR and Kemenpan and RB that the recruitment of civil servant candidates (CPNS) in all agencies must be conducted simultaneously in October 2025 and the recruitment of government employees with work agreements in March 2026. Referring to data from Kemenpan and RB, the government has conducted the selection of state civil apparatus candidates (CASN) in 2024 with a formation of 248,970 for CPNS and 1,017,111 for government employees with work agreements.

There are also regions that are requesting a postponement or delay in the TMT for CPNS appointments because they still need time to adjust.

According to Rini, there are several reasons behind the decision to hold the appointment of civil servant candidates (CPNS) simultaneously on October 1, 2025. First, she observed that the determination of the effective start date (TMT) for each institution has varied, resulting in civil servants from the same cohort sometimes not having the same TMT.

The second reason is technical factors. Rini revealed that several agencies still require time to align their civil servant candidate (CPNS) data. Even now, there are some agencies that have not yet submitted complete CPNS data to the National Civil Service Agency (BKN). In fact, there are also regions requesting delays or postponements of the effective date of CPNS appointments because they still need time for adjustments, especially in regions that have just concluded local elections.

"Because this is the largest recruitment in history. So it indeed takes time. It's different from previous ones. Well, therefore, we decided to standardize everything so that all the effective dates are the same, on October 1 for civil servant candidates. So, we are doing it simultaneously," he said.

However, Rini emphasized that the administrative completion process is still ongoing. BKN has also written to all government agencies to prepare the administration for determining employee registration numbers (NIP).

"There are technical factors that we need to resolve. This, right, can't be done in a lump sum like that, right? If it is indeed delayed, it is because we, the government, especially at BKN, need enough time to collect that much data. And good cooperation with (agencies) is also needed, right," he said.

On the other hand, according to Rini, the simultaneity of the determination of the CASN TMT is also important so that in the future ASN data collection will be more measurable. In the long term, the government will be facilitated to what extent ASN needs with what competencies. "Well, that's actually what we want to do. So, we do need to have alignment, so that in the future it will be clear that this batch is actually TMT so much. It's clearer," he said.

Rini reminded the agencies to no longer propose a delay in the TMT for CPNS appointments. Moreover, the government through the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform has also given regional governments time to prepare their administration with BKN.

Regarding the budget issue, he believes the agency has calculated everything well. The employee spending budget is also not included in the budget that has experienced efficiency.

"So, it can't be postponed again. We said, TMT 1 October, which means they (CPNS) have started entering on 1 October. Don't let them postpone it again to November, for example, I don't want that. Well, that's the maximum we can do," he said.

Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the DPR from the Democratic Party Faction, Dede Yusuf, emphasized that there was no word "simultaneously" in the conclusion of the meeting between Commission II of the DPR and the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, on March 5, 2025. Commission II of the DPR instead requested that the TMT for the appointment of CPNS be advanced from the government's original request which requested the TMT in 2026.

"We ask for it to be accelerated (appointment of CPNS). Of course by looking at the financial capabilities of the region and the completeness of the requirements," said Dede.

He suspects that there are a number of other reasons that have not been mentioned by the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform related to the postponement of the appointment of CPNS. One of them is the condition of the regional government which is quite difficult to allocate the budget in the early transition period of the regional head. In addition, it is also due to the regional budget being affected by budget efficiency.

"One of them is indeed what we often find when conducting work visits to the regions. And the amount of their employee spending is on average more than 30 percent of the total APBD if you add new ones. So, improvements take time," said Dede.

In line with Dede, Member of the Indonesian Ombudsman Robert Na Endi Jaweng estimated that the problem of delaying the appointment of CPNS was due to the efficiency of the regional government budget. Therefore, the choice of the appointment deadline in October 2025, according to him, is related to the projection that the Revised State Budget and Revised Regional Budget will be carried out no later than September.

"The initial timeline was April, the appointment (of CPNS). Agencies need time to rearrange priorities and adjust budgets," he said.

If this budget constraint problem is the cause, Robert deeply regrets it. Because, when compiling the CPNS formation, the agency should have calculated the budget support. However, recently, the budget efficiency policy has forced all agencies to make adjustments.

"The total efficiency in the regional government reached Rp 50 trillion. There are regencies that have budget efficiency of Rp 50 billion. That's quite large," he said.