App Without Limits in Duda Timur

The app helps the village residents access a variety of public services and offers a 24-hour facility for filing complaints.

Kompas/Ayu Sulistyowati

Duda Timur village head I Gede Pawana shows Smart Village app on Wednesday (7/2). Amid Mount Agung eruption in Karangasem, Bali, the Duda Timur village was able to release an app with various features, from document issuance to public complaints. The service is open for public and accessible through Android smartphone.

Triggered by the wrath of I Gede Pawana, the perbekel (village head) of Duda Timur in Karangasem, Bali, over the collection of data on poor people that was never completed, the village has now implemented the “Smart Village” app that makes it easier for residents.

Life in the village does not have to be backward. Amid the eruption of Mount Agung, Duda Timur village in Karangasem, located 12 kilometers from the crater, has proved this with the “Smart Village” app.

The app, which has several different features, helps the village residents access a variety of public services and offers a 24-hour facility for filing complaints.

“It is beyond expectation. This app is advanced and convenient. All residents can access and use the services through this app without limits. All residents are registered and, make no mistake, detailed residential information for all residents are also on record. So, this app really educates the village’s residents and apparatuses in prioritizing honesty,” said Pawana, 39.

The app offers various features, such as profile, services, news, report, communication and location. It is comprehensive. Pawana’s village head profile can be accessed at a single click.

For example, he said, villagers could take photographs and submit them to the village head, so there was no reason for the village head to venture out of the village. The app is also linked to state electricity firm PLN, hospitals and the police to make it easier to follow up on reports.

Duda Timur resident Wayan Gede Juniawan, 32, who is also the head of Pasangkan Anyar hamlet, said the app was helpful. Before, he had to visit residents’ homes when updating census data, such as for issuing certificates of deaths, new births or household records.

Now, house visits were no longer needed because the residents could easily input their own data through the app. “If the residents do not have an Android phone, they only need to send an SMS and I will process [the information] through the app. Easy,” Gede said.

All data, such as data on poor households, reports submitted by the public and certificates, is open to access and no longer hidden from villagers or the administration. All are available through the Smart Village app. Pawana is satisfied, because the app makes the village more advanced than other villages in Bali and possibly, even in the country.

Technology savvy

The Smart Village app was initiated when Pawana looked into the registration of poor families, a process that was never completed. He then talked to a friend who understood technology, PT Saebo Technology CEO Sonny Kastara Dhaniswara, who lives in Jakarta.

Pawana spoke to Sonny about his intention to gather data on all the village’s residents, starting with their occupation, income and details on their residences. He was insistent on fully mapping the village, as he was against data manipulation.

Pawana, as the village head, could remain close to his residents through the Smart Village, wherever they were. “Not all residents know my cellular number. So, my ideas are accessible through the app,” he said.

As village head, said Pawana, he wanted all residents of Duda Timur to advance together in developing the village. “All are working toward developing the village without having to complain about being away from the village. This app is really helpful,” Pawana enthused.

Technology challenge

For Sonny, making the app was a technological challenge. Advanced information technology should not be limited in its use, whether in rural or urban areas, in a small or large scope. All residents have equal right to access information, including through sophisticated technology. In addition, new applications that appear on a small scale actually facilitate innovation for the greater good.

Sonny said his meeting with Pawana brought good news and raised hopes for developing the village. He did not imagine that Pawana was thinking ahead about the villagers’ capacity to use technology and preventing them from being left behind.

“Without further ado, Saebo took up the challenge. The project was included in the company’s CSR program. Our discussion happened before the Mount Agung eruption,” said Sonny.

Sonny did not expect to find that nearly 80 percent of the Duda Timur village area did not receive telecommunication coverage. The signal was almost nonexistent. “It was a hard challenge. But we did not give up,” he said.

Sonny said that what made the Smart Village app different and more advanced was that it could be used without a cellular signal. Sonny’s team used a specific frequency, but he declined to elaborate further because the team was still patenting the technology.

He also made sure that the data in the app was accurate. About 1,000 residents in the village were recorded based on the details of their family identity card. All reports that came in were recorded, starting with the name, family connections and detailed residence.

It was all accurate, as with the certificate issuance service, which is completed within 24 hours. This was to anticipate any incidents that required the immediate issuance of documents. The app can also help identify any resident that were away from the village, even those that met with an accident and were rendered unconscious, through a fingerprint identification system. The villager can be identified through the app, which contains fingerprint records for all village residents.

All of this sophistication started with a village.