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Indonesia has introduced radical decentralisation measures, transferring many functions and much finance to democratically elected sub-national governments. However, human resource management (HRM) has largely been overlooked. Using data obtained from central personnel agencies and nine sub-national governments, this article examines the major elements of HRM at sub-national level: recruitment and selection; promotion and advancement; training and development; remuneration; and performance management. The structure and operation of these elements are compared with those advocated in Strategic HRM, the dominant paradigm of contemporary HRM. The findings are that a centralised, bureaucratised system of HRM remains in place in Indonesia, with many practices retained from the pre-decentralisation period. The HRM system is only minimally linked to strategic concerns and …