More Concrete Actions Awaited for Nation’s Future in Digital Era
In an era where the internet is everything, Indonesia, with its population of more than 260 million people, is a highly attractive business market.
By
GESIT ARIYANTO
·5 minutes read
In an international digital information and technology conference in Budapest, Hungary, in September 2019, Indonesian delegates talked about the completion of the 58,000-kilometer Palapa Ring fiber optic infrastructure. Other countries’ delegates were in awe.
After the talk, the speaker from the Communications and Information Ministry received congratulations and partnership proposals. In an era where the internet is everything, Indonesia, with its population of more than 260 million people, is a highly attractive business market.
Indonesia being the world’s number one user of the internet, with more cellphones than the actual population, there is an attractiveness in the digital market.
However, is it really that attractive in the real world? The answer is: not that much. Even in big cities, such as Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Medan and Makassar, internet speed remains unstable – let alone in other cities.
However, regardless of the issue, the Indonesian government’s efforts to end digital isolation from Sabang to Merauke and from Miangas to Rote merit appreciation. Regional administrations’ preparedness is also needed, such as in providing land for the construction of more than 2,000 base transceiver stations (BTS) by 2020 to complement the Palapa Ring.
Without these BTS towers, the Palapa Ring cannot be used optimally, despite trillions having been disbursed to build the network, which includes 35,000 kilometers of undersea cables connecting 34 provinces and 440 regencies and cities.
Amid imperfections, start-ups – most of which are controlled in Jakarta – have penetrated the nation’s remote regions. The millennials behind these businesses have disrupted business chains in agriculture, horticulture, marine products, health, education, food and beverage, distribution and transportation throughout the year.
Despite the start-up scale, digitalization has boosted farmers and fishermen’s welfare. Smallholder farmers and fishermen in Sukabumi, Situbondo, Lampung and Banjarmasin have benefited from digital marketing in resolving marketing problems pertaining to selling price, middlemen’s presence and regeneration.
The Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry’s disadvantaged regions director general, Samsul Widodo, said the future of villages and societies laid in the hands of persistently creative youths.
Rain of disasters
Amid the emergence of a new era of internet of things (IoT) in Industry 4.0, the country is hit by an unending series of disasters. Clean water crises hit villages and cities in the dry season of 2019, followed by forest, peatland and mountain fires in Central Java and East Java.
Two months ahead of the New year, flash floods, landslides and typhoons terrorized Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Java.
Disasters are nothing new and yet they continue to erode trillions of rupiahs to mitigate. These also led to loss of life and belongings – not to mention the protests from other countries.
Excessive exploitation of the nature is the seed of disasters.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has warned that treating nature wisely is the most effective way to reduce disaster risks. Excessive exploitation of the nature is the seed of disasters.
In the past two months, several illegal mines, such as those in Mandailing Natal, South Solok, Jambi and South Sumatra, have been closed.
Kompas investigation in Sumatra revealed that the number of illegal smallholder miners increased after rubber farmers switched jobs when rubber price plummeted to only Rp 6,000 (US 43 cents) per kilogram. The price of commodities, such as rubber, has never been stable for years. Rubber plantations in North Sumatra and South Sumatra are neglected.
Village fund
Another “disaster” arrived. This time from Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi. Local bureaucrats were believed to have hijacked the village fund for the past three years, by establishing fictitious villages. Nationwide, village fund reached Rp 257 trillion between 2015 and 2019. Village fund allocation (ADD) in the same period was higher, namely Rp 329.8 trillion. Village fund was entirely sourced from the state budget, while the ADD also includes 10-percent of funding from regional budgets and the general allocation fund (DAU).
Do not mess around, President Joko Widodo said on village development. Despite the case in Kendari, the government soldiers on with its village fund disbursement. In 2020, village fund will be raised to Rp 72 trillion, including funding for technical improvement for 75,000 villages.
Empowerment and productive sectors are the focus of village fund disbursement in 2020. The strategy involves revitalizing around 45,800 village-owned enterprises (BUMDes) nationwide.
Villages have gained importance as there lies the irony of poverty existing side by side with the production sector.
The success stories of Pujon Kidul tourism village in Malang regency, East Java, and in Ponggok tourism village in Klaten regency, Central Java, highlight villages’ huge potentials in generating revenues up to billions of rupiah. Hundreds of village youths now have jobs in the two villages. This has yet to include the chain production effect.
Villages have gained importance as there lies the irony of poverty existing side by side with the production sector. Education-wise, around 70 percent of workers in villages are only middle school graduates.
How are things looking up in 2020? Collaboration of all (human and natural) resources with the digital technology can be the beginning of good news. In Budapest, the “magic” of Palapa Ring presents a sketch of the nation’s future in the digital era. However, without collaboration and policy consistency between the central and regional governments, the sketch will never be finished.