We Must Upgrade Indonesian Human Capital: President Jokowi

President Jokowi delivers his remarks at the Opening of the 2019 National Development Planning Conference (Musrenbangnas) in Central Jakarta, Thursday (9/5). (Photo by: Rahmat /PR).

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has stated that 51 percent of Indonesian manpower is primary school graduates.

“This is a problem that we have to resolve, we must upgrade the capabilities of millions of our manpower,” President Jokowi said in his remarks at the Opening of the 2019 National Development Planning Conference (Musrenbangnas) in Central Jakarta, Thursday (9/5).

According to the President, all elements of the Government must jointly resolve the problem and he cited the example to hold training and workshop programs so that the people’s skills would be better.

“In order to give scholarships not only to ten thousand or a hundred thousand, but to millions of our children so that they have access to education, both at home and abroad, so that we can catch up with other countries,” President Jokowi said, adding that regional governments should not get stuck in routine budgets.

Furthermore, President Jokowi expressed his hope that vocational high schools (SMK) implement link and match policy with existing industries and advise them not to act on their own in order to meet the industries’ needs.

Considering the rapidly changing world, the President also appealed to the SMKs to open new programs. Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Internet of Things, Virtual Reality, 3D Printing are some aspects that are currently developing. The President also expressed his hope that the SMKs can improve as soon as possible.

On that occasion, President Jokowi also reminded to prepare our human capital to new things. He cited the example of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) that has been developed in the Philippines, so that the non-core and administrative functions of companies could be done in the Philippines, but the main companies were based in many countries.

In the health sector, the President expects not to hear any cases of stunting, malnutrition, and high maternal as well as child mortality in the next five years. “This is also a big problem that we have to resolve together,” he concluded. (DND/HIM/RAH/ES)

Translated by: Galuh Wicaksono
Edited by: Muhardi/Yuyu Mulyani