Faculty of Law of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogykarta (UMY) signed an agreement on public services with Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia. It aimed to enhance quality of UMY public services and to collaborate to embody responsibilities of two parties. The agreement signing was carried out by Chairman of Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia Prof. Amzulian Rifai, SH., LL.M, Ph.D. and Vice Rector for Cooperation and International Affairs of UMY Prof. Dr. Achmad Nurmandi.

Prof. Amzulian stated that higher education should apply tri dharma perguruan tinggi (the three principles of higher education), namely education, research, and community service. “Ombudsman is an official to investigate public services by ministries/bodies such as BUMN, BHMN, BUMD, and private/individual bodies whose funds are from APBN/APBD. To support the implementation of the principles, Ombudsman cooperated with higher education institutions to conduct research or internship programs for students,” declared Amzulian.

Amzulian explained that the agreement will ease both parties in providing public services. “Cooperating with higher education institutions is a strategic move. There are thousands of public services in Indonesia, but the report only mentioned five thousand public services. The circumstance may be caused by that some people cannot access the public service bodies,” he maintained.

Furthermore, Amzulian thought that Indonesian public services sometimes can be fast or slow. “Many people are disappointed about government’s public services. Hence, Ombudsman is responsible for monitoring government and linking people to complain or give recommendations. To boost quality of the public services needs awareness of all parties such as community bodies, government, and higher education institutions. Indeed, this agreement is an attempt to increase the public service quality,” he ended.