Introductory Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at Microsoft Developer Conference 2021: Accelerating Indonesia’s Digital Economy Thursday, 25 February 2021 from the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

May peace be upon us all,

Om Swastiastu,

Namo Buddhaya,

Greetings of virtue.

Distinguished Ministers of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet,

Distinguished CEO and Executives of Microsoft,

Distinguished chiefs of startup companies,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

Digital transformation is the key to resilience in COVID-19 pandemic, to support us to work more effectively and efficiently, and to remain productive amidst limited physical interaction.

We must capitalize on the pandemic as a momentum to drive the acceleration of digital transformation in Indonesia, be it digital government, digital economy, digital society, or digital infrastructure.

The acceleration cannot be done by the Government alone. Instead, it requires active participation from Indonesian digital communities, through investment in datacenter development, acceleration of digital literacy program, and equally important immense development of digital talents.

Distinguished Guests,

Indonesia has great a potential and promising digital market. Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country with internet penetration that continues to grow in line with digital infrastructure development reaching all corners of the country.

It is our hope that this great potential can be seized by digital companies, both at home and abroad. Thus, it will open new job opportunities, as many as possible, particularly for our considerable number of working-age population. Each year, around 2.9 million young people enters the job market. We must equip them well to become digital talents.

Efforts to create immense number of digital talents need well-planned measures, as well as detailed and systematic measures. It must start from the upstream, namely promoting digital literacy in educational institutions. We must train teachers and students to learn about digital sector. Digital literacy is gaining its momentum since most of our activities during the pandemic, including learning process, are conducted online. I encourage you to seize this momentum by involving Indonesian digital communities.

Distinguished Indonesian digital communities,

We are eying expansion of digital transformation for millions of Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia. We must use this momentum to equip the MSMEs so they can level up. Digital transformation will pave the way for the MSMEs to enter digital marketplace and to become part of national and global supply chains.

Based on a data I have received, there was a spike in online sales transaction by 10 to 15 percent. This has encouraged national campaign to buy locally-made MSMEs products which are supported by e-commerce. Not to mention that eight out of the total 60 millions of MSMEs in Indonesia are connected to digital platforms. We have to promote the progress to keep the number growing to 10 million, 15 million, 20 million, and more.

We must provide more trainings on the adoption of digital technology for MSMEs. The Government has implemented online training through Pre-Employment Card program in which most of the trainings are really basic and practical.

Ministries / institutions can also adopt similar training in collaboration with digital communities by providing online trainings for free. I believe with the collaboration involving Indonesian digital communities including Microsoft, our strength can be further developed. We have more strength to accelerate the ongoing digital transformation process.

That conclude this remarks.

I thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. (RAS/MEP)