Disciplining Civil Servants in Aceh

Administrative Sanctions, Performance Evidence, and an Islamic Labour-Contract Perspective

Abstract

This article examines disciplinary enforcement against civil servants within the Aceh Civil Service Agency (Badan Kepegawaian Aceh, BKA) and reassesses the relevance of ijārah ʿalā al-aʿmāl as an Islamic normative framework for public-sector work obligations. Using a qualitative socio-legal method, the study combines doctrinal analysis of Indonesian civil-service law with interviews involving BKA officials responsible for performance evaluation and discipline. The article makes two principal arguments. First, misconduct by Indonesian civil servants is primarily a matter of public administrative law rather than private contractual default. Government Regulation No. 94 of 2021 governs obligations, prohibitions, disciplinary procedures, sanctions, competent authorities and administrative remedies, while Law No. 20 of 2023 provides the contemporary statutory framework for state civil-service management. Ijārah ʿalā al-aʿmāl can therefore be used only as a comparative ethical and normative lens concerning work, remuneration, clarity of duties and reciprocal responsibility; it should not be treated as the direct legal source of civil-service sanctions. Second, the available 2020–2023 data do not establish a simple causal finding that sanctions are ineffective. Reported disciplinary cases fluctuate across the period, while the dataset lacks denominators, repeat-offender data and controls for enforcement intensity. The evidence nevertheless reveals continuing disciplinary problems and supports stronger supervision, transparent documentation, proportionate decision-making and preventive coaching. The article concludes that a defensible international legal analysis requires a clear separation between administrative legality, empirical sanction effectiveness and Islamic ethical evaluation.