The Role of Civil Servants in Challenging Authority
April 13, 2024
Within the bureaucratic apparatus, there are alarming signs indicating dysfunction. From mold in buildings to disappearing hard drives, corruption in public works, and malpractices in the tax department, to widespread nepotism in ministry of Governance. Meanwhile, nearly half of 2024 has passed, yet the results of the 2023 census are nowhere to be seen.
Contrastingly, an article by Doortje Lenders, The New Public Servant Prefers a Livable World over a Good Pension," sheds a different light. In the Netherlands, civil servants are no longer entirely subservient to politics (Lenders, 2024). They are allowed to follow their conscience and even stand up for it. Civil servants are part of dissent in a democracy. Disobeying political primacy is permissible when unjust rules are being broken. However, taking the conscientious objections of civil servants seriously does not always mean they will be honored but rather considered. The point is that civil servants must not only be able to express these objections but also must do so, especially in times of transition.
All of this stands miles and miles away from what is happening in Curaçao. Being a civil servant means having a well-paid and secure job, increasingly being awarded to a family member, with few societal outputs in return. Fewer and fewer people speak out against this form of corruption, giving politicians more leeway to appoint even more relatives.