<![CDATA[This study examines the effectiveness of public services at the Population and Civil Registration Office (Disdukcapil) of Bolaang Mongondow Regency in realizing good governance, with a particular focus on accountability, transparency, and public participation as the three principal indicators. Employing an empirical legal research approach through in-depth interviews with nine informants comprising four government officials and five community members and analyzed through the lens of Soerjono Soekanto's legal effectiveness theory, the research reveals a significant structural gap between institutional claims and the lived experience of service recipients. Accountability has been operationalized through Service Level Agreements and systematic Standard Operating Procedures, yielding measurable improvements in compliance ratings from the Ombudsman. However, transparency remains critically deficient: despite multi-channel information dissemination through websites, social media, and village coordination networks, none of the five community participants reported accessing procedural information via these channels, and none reported receiving procedural information via those channels prior to their visit to the office. Participation in similarly nominal formal complaint mechanisms, including SP4N-LAPOR and suggestion boxes, exists on paper, yet all community respondents stated they had never been involved in service evaluation or consulted on service standards. Three structural inhibitors are identified: inconsistency in law enforcement apparatus behavior; inadequate physical and technological infrastructure, including a single-unit ID card printer and unstable internet connectivity; and deeply entrenched cultural factors, manifested in the persistent use of brokers (calo) and low civil registration compliance, particularly in marriage recording. These findings contribute to an analytical framework for evaluating the effectiveness of local government public services within decentralized governance contexts in Indonesia]]>
