In the last two decades, there has been no buzz surrounding research policies until now, with recent talk about the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).
Controversy surrounds not only the institution, but also its leader, the steering board chief and the consequences of their policies. The BRIN last took over the Eijkman Institute, which was also done to other long-lived institutions such as the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).
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Many, especially scholars, have mobilized support to oppose Eijkman’s integration into the BRIN. This is because apart from affecting the research process, such an integration has implications for the marginalization of a number of personnel and staff, as well as diminishing the research spirit of the institution. Eijkman has thus far topped public objection on the centralization of research.
Supporters of centralization, however, argue that with decentralization and limited funds, research has not produced anything significant. The research output is relatively small compared to neighboring developed countries. The citation index is also small, as well as Indonesia’s contribution to the development of science.
Meanwhile, there is a lot of potential in science and technology as subjects of research, ranging from studies on volcanology and the ring of fire, horticultural crops, renewable energy as well as public health and relevant efforts to overcome Covid-19, for example.
Instead of producing a phenomenal impact, Indonesian research is said to be sluggish. Many important commodities for the welfare of society are still being imported and popular tropical fruits do not even come from our own country.
We are fair. It is not entirely the researchers’ fault that we have underachieved in this field and that the pile of research result reports is high. The government, who is supposed to support domestic innovation, often denies it with policies that do not allow research findings to approach the downstream, let alone become a success in the market.
One option, if they could turn back the clock, would be to choose fields that Indonesia needs, mobilize resources and spur the production of brilliant innovations.
Based on the lack of national research achievements amid a large wave of change triggered by advances in digital technology, or the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration sees the need to reorganize the research institutions in the country. As an alternative, the BRIN should be given the opportunity to dynamize national research and innovation activities. One option, if they could turn back the clock, would be to choose fields that Indonesia needs, mobilize resources and spur the production of brilliant innovations.
However, we see that the BRIN prefers to reorganize the existing institutions. With elite personnel who have been deemed less appropriate, the BRIN is on its way to becoming an institution that is, at the very least, controversial, if not disliked.
In the fields of science, technology and socioeconomics, the world is now welcoming a new era of progress. We should not get caught up in discourse on the centralization and decentralization of research. It is simple: If noteworthy research is not achieved in the next two or three years, then the BRIN has failed.
(This article was translated by Kesya Adhalia).
