<![CDATA[Bureaucratic neutrality is a fundamental pillar in safeguarding the ethics of public administration, the implementation of government, and the practice of democracy. Within a bureaucracy, the State Civil Apparatus (ASN) constitutes an essential component and the executor of the bureaucracy itself, required to remain impartial, professional, and free from political interference. This study aims to analyze bureaucratic neutrality as part of public administration ethics, with a specific focus on the electoral contestation of the 2024 Regional Head Elections (Pilkada). A key issue that prevents parts of the bureaucracy from maintaining neutrality and acting professionally in accordance with civil service regulations lies in the persistence of a patrimonial bureaucratic culture, wherein the position of regional heads as civil service supervisors becomes a trigger for bureaucratic cooptation into practical politics, alongside other contributing factors. The research employs a descriptive qualitative approach with a literature review method, a systematic approach used to collect, analyze, and synthesize information from various relevant sources. Data were obtained through document reviews of reports from the Election Supervisory Body of the Republic of Indonesia (Bawaslu), the State Civil Apparatus Commission (KASN), the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (PANRB), digital media sources, and recent academic publications. The findings reveal that the neutrality of ASN continues to face significant challenges in practice, as its implementation in the field is still confronted with dilemmas of loyalty, political intervention, pressure from local elites, and weak enforcement of sanctions and internal oversight. These findings confirm Weber’s theory of bureaucratic rationality and reinforce Denhardt and Denhardt’s New Public Service paradigm, which emphasizes that bureaucracy should serve the public interest rather than political interests. This study underscores that bureaucratic neutrality is not only a regulatory mandate but also an integral part of public administration ethics in realizing professional governance.]]>
