Making Life More Civilized

KOMPAS/HERLAMBANG JALUARDI

Rama Raditya, CEO PT Qlue Performa Indonesia. 10-12-2018

Armed with their intelligence and networks, Rama Raditya, 35, and Falencia Chrisshanti Naoenz, 24, look for ways to answer society’s problems, like traffic jams, floods, disasters, crime and hunger.

A cellphone message was received from Rama Raditya at 4:06 p.m. on Monday (12/10/2018). It says, “Just a little while longer, I will be there in 15 minutes. I just passed a road that looks like this...” He sent a photo attachment through the Qlue application of water about 50 centimeters deep.

Rama, along with Andre Hutagalung, 37, is the founder of PT Qlue Performa Indonesia, which designed the Qlue social media application. Jakarta’s citizens have been using the mobile phone application since 2015 to submit reports and complaints on the condition of public facilities and infrastructure.

The photo was originally uploaded by user Ardian Tumanggor. He wanted to report to the Jakarta Provincial Administration that heavy rain had caused flooding along Jl. Kemang Utara IX, about 2 kilometers from Qlue’s office in Pejaten, South Jakarta.

As promised, Rama arrived at the cool and shady office less than 15 minutes later. The graduate of Strayer University in Virginia, the United States, said the number of people who reported problems through Qlue had decreased drastically in 2017, precisely when then-Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja “Ahok” Purnama took leave to prepare for the election. The number of users also shrank when Ahok lost the election.

“Many uninstalled the application because some people thought [reports] would not be followed up. Actually, it has kept running,” said Rama.

ARSIP PRIBADI

Falencia Chrisshanti Naoenz.

The Qlue application was launched in 2015 in conjunction with the Jakarta Smart City program. Ahok ordered his staff to follow up immediately on citizens’ reports.

The results have been encouraging. The number of downloads skyrocketed to more than 1 million. Throughout 2017, around 500,000 residents reported on issues such as sanitation, congestion, damaged roads and illegal parking.

Rama said that 90 percent of the complaints had been followed up. Most complaints were on sanitation.

About a year after Anies Baswedan was elected Jakarta governor, the number of reports declined. Many believe that the Jakarta Smart City program had been halted. Anies later straightened out this misunderstanding, and urged Jakarta residents to report complaints through several channels, including Qlue.

“If I am not mistaken, he [Anies] issued a regulation that subdistrict heads must follow up immediately on citizens’ reports. If not, there would be a 10 percent deduction in [their] job benefits,” said Rama.

The measured worked. Within Anies’ tenure, 112,000 reports were submitted, of which 85 percent were followed up. Rama suspected that the reporting trend would continue to rise, as the government was still responding to the citizens’ complaints, even if the duration of the process was not as clear as it was before.

“The system is now much better. The app’s performance at the user level has improved. It does not use up bandwidth, or drain the battery. The system within the Jakarta provincial administration has also been strengthened,” he said.

This digital reporting management system has now been distributed to other municipalities and regencies. To date, 16 regency and municipal administrations have implemented the Smart City program as a result of Qlue’s development, including Bengkulu, Sibolga, Manado, Probolinggo, Cilegon and Parepare. In partnership with the Communications and Information Ministry, Qlue has set an implementation target of 100 Smart Cities by 2020.

Qlue has also been applied during disasters, such as the earthquake in Bima, NTB, and most recently in Palu, Central Sulawesi. Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) volunteers and other aid agencies are able to more quickly map the needs of residents in affected areas.

Artificial intelligence

The President now utilizes the internet-based supervision and monitoring system to monitor problems and the progress of infrastructure projects around the country.

Qlue uses an artificial intelligence (AI) system that provides advice for the President’s work visits, based on the data it has received. “For example, toll road projects in certain areas need acceleration. The AI [system] can advise the President to go there and make a policy so that the project can be completed on time,” said Rama.

“Our dream from the start was that the President would have a large dashboard to monitor what is happening in Indonesia. Whoever the president is. Our estimate is that [the system] will be complete in 2020, once more municipalities/regencies start using the app. Apparently, we were given a head start,” he said.

Rama had the opportunity to meet President Joko Widodo in early 2017. He explained then that the dashboard could be used to monitor what was happening in the country, as well as the performances of regional administrations and ministries. The app’s data can help formulate the kind of infrastructure needed to ease the people’s lives.

Jokowi responded with enthusiasm. Rama’s proposal was carried out quickly and enabled in June 2018. The dashboard console indicates what problems exist and which ones need immediate attention. The president manages the AI’s formulations.

Qlue designed it AI with four data analysts from Silicon Valley. According to Rama, the four experts decided to work on Qlue because of the company’s close relationship with the government. These young professionals, aged 24 to 25, were willing to contribute their expertise to Indonesia.

“There are many doctoral graduates in data analysis from overseas universities, such as Japan and Australia, who are working here. They contributed to developing the Qlue Vision program,” said Rama.

Starting with only four staff – including one office boy – the company now has 100 employees with an average age of 26 and 27.

Qlue Vision is a system that reports to relevant agencies using data gathered from CCTV cameras that run an AI program. The system can monitor parking problems, the presence of unidentified individuals, and fugitives from the police. The 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang a few months ago used this technology to monitor the movement of state guests.

Qlue Vision is planned for implementation as an e-ticketing platform in several cities outside Jakarta next year. The National Police’s narcotics unit has used the application to track down criminals, which led to the arrests of dozens of drug lords.

In the hands of Rama and his team, digital technology has been designed to create a more civilized society. Realizing this requires three elements to work together: First is and efficiently governance; second is a user-friendly technology infrastructure; and third element is a regulation that covers the first two elements.

“[Civic engagement] can be established from the three elements. Simply put, the citizens report, the government manages.” (HEI)