"Indonesia 4.0" Talents
Learn from the West, don\'t be an imitator of the West;
instead, be a clever student from the East.
–Tan Malaka
Indeed, the level of seriousness in a particular effort can be measured by the seriousness of those who oppose it – and of course, by the seriousness of those who support it.
We are truly serious about getting on the right path to improve our class as a nation. Standard Chartered Plc has projected that Indonesia will rank among the top five world economies by 2030 with an economy of more than US$10 trillion. The forecast does not exaggerate the nation’s seriousness about forging this path. It has also weighed the seriousness of the resistance against it. In the last five years, Indonesia has carried out the largest infrastructure development in its history.
The work that usually proceeds smoothly in authoritarian or totalitarian countries can be completed in less than five years by a democratic government. New roads now stretch from Aceh to Papua. Islands are connected by sea and air. Newly built airports have opened the world. New economic centers have emerged as more and more points across the archipelago become connected and accessible. Those with good intentions can use these many opportunities to move forward.
On the other hand, Indonesia\'s demographic composition has changed. The nation’s working age population (15-64 years) will peak at 200 million in 2030, when Indonesia will have the largest working age population in Southeast Asia. Smart people call it a "demographic bonus"; I prefer to call it "the national supply of courage and reason". It is talent. The change in population structure is an opportunity for economic growth, but it could also be a burden if we do not complete our task to supply the talent for Indonesia 4.0 – talents who are courageous and rational, of course.
Global talent crisis
While discussing the diverse intellectual and genetic potential of Indonesian human resources a week ago with Indonesian psychiatry and genetic engineering students at Cambridge University, I used the word "talent resources" rather than "human resources". “Talent” refers to a person with all their inherent imagination, potential and abilities. The word "human" only refers to humans as biological beings and raw materials of a system that is assumed to be the standard.
The dawn of Industry 4.0 has emerged with a new problem: the global talent crisis. On the one hand, the widespread use of information technology for the automation of production has increasingly reduced the number of jobs that a dense labor market had filled. On the other hand, the new field that high-tech economies have opened is experiencing a shortage of courageous and rational talents.
Under this condition, every country risks losing an entire generation if they fail to take a more complete approach to nurturing talents as history demands. According to the Human Capital Index report, only 62 percent of human resource potential has been used globally, with only 25 countries utilizing 70 percent and the majority of new economies utilizing 50-70 percent of their human capital.
Indonesia, with a population of around 260 million, faces a shortage of experts in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. The supply of STEM talents is still insufficient to meet the demand and needs of Industry 4.0.
Data from the Asian Productivity Organization shows that the pace of Indonesian labor productivity was still slower in 2018 than Thailand and Malaysia, even Vietnam. The education level of the majority of our working age population is junior high school and below. President Joko Widodo has expressed concern over this condition. Indonesia, with a population of around 260 million, faces a shortage of experts in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. The supply of STEM talents is still insufficient to meet the demand and needs of Industry 4.0.
We must all understand the playbook. In preparing “Indonesia 4.0 Talents”, the playbook requires us to map labor demands, develop educational curricula that matches current needs, revitalize teachers and teaching staff and improve the facilities at vocational training centers (BLK), vocational schools, polytechnics and universities.
This is the standard method, and will produce linear results. However, we don\'t have much time. Industry 4.0, as with other industrial revolutions in human history, demands a leap forward.
We need to take a quantum leap that grows Indonesian talents on an exponential scale. We need a radical idea. I offer this radical idea: merging brain power with community power. The issue is the brain and muscle of the nation.
Brain and brawn
Brain power refers to encouraging educated Indonesians who already have a career towards realizing their potential. They are the talents who have enjoyed access to higher education – from level-1 diplomas (D-1) to doctorates (S-3), both at home and abroad – and are employed or creating jobs. Some of these brain power talents can even be categorized as "superior talent". They have been fortunate enough to obtain higher education in the best institutions (at home or abroad), occupy the top positions in the companies where they work, or create start-ups that have become a model of success for other entrepreneurs.
Community power is the stem cell that creates the nation. This is the interlinked structure of society at the neighborhood, village or kampung level. Community power functions as the glue that binds different individuals within a system and self-regulates order in a society. Community power is self-governing, based on the knowledge they have inherited from the past. This is collective wisdom, where basic information on the nation is stored for hundreds of years. Without renewing knowledge and insight, or this self-regulating function, we will be left behind in history by the Hyperloop and the people on it will only fall victim to the new ideas flying about in digital space.
Like it or not, I imagine the birth of grassroots groups (community power) that think through thinkers (brain power) with grassroots souls.
Brain power possesses knowledge and science, while community power possesses societal wisdoms and values. The two must be combined together as a twin driver for realizing the talent development strategies in the 2020-2024 National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN). Like it or not, I imagine the birth of grassroots groups (community power) that think through thinkers (brain power) with grassroots souls.
Is it possible? Maybe. In the experience of many nations (as long as we want to reflect on it), all things in the world are not divided into what is difficult and what is easy, but by whether the solution meets the demands of history. If it does, it will be easy; if it does not, it will be difficult. The main work happens not during rhetoric or creating the road map, but in building the network of brain power and community power. There are some interesting stories from the past few years when I met tens of thousands of Indonesian community power and brain power spreading outward from villages and into the world. The process of marrying brain power with community power, especially villages over the past four years, has convinced me that Indonesian talents must leap to disrupt in facing Industry 4.0.
At the very least, we must create a space to talk and cooperate among the three elements of brain power. One is the brain power that cultivates and hones people, such as public officials who think progressively and disruptively, educators, and social entrepreneurs. Two is the brain power that cultivates and hones tools, such as experts in artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and flying cars, three-dimensional printing and quantum computing. Three is the brain power that cultivates the human body, such as genetic engineers, neuroscientists and evolutionary psychologists. The three must converse together to develop harmonious movement in Industry 4.0.
The only choices are to be a superior talent now or never. In the process, villages and kampungs will become innovation incubators, cities and the state will become network trajectories and all the world will be a playground.
When brain power meets community power, knowledge transfer, shopping for problems, problem-solving and knowledge- and values-based idea exchanges will occur. Brain power that does not involve community power will become a failed tale of enlightenment. Meanwhile, community power without brain power will head towards tribalistic populism that is afraid to face the data and information storm. This meeting of the two forges an accelerated path towards developing talents that would otherwise have taken dozens of years. This is important because our demographic bonus will last only until 2030. After that, Indonesia will become an aging society. The only choices are to be a superior talent now or never. In the process, villages and kampungs will become innovation incubators, cities and the state will become network trajectories and all the world will be a playground.
Budiman Sudjatmiko, General Chairman of Inovator 4.0 Indonesia