COVID-19 Pandemic Brings New Hope for Digital Transformation: President Jokowi
President Joko Widodo led a limited meeting at the Merdeka Palace few days ago.(Photo: Documentation of Cabinet Secretariat)
Digital transformation amid the COVID-19 pandemic is bound to change the way people work, doing activities, consuming, learning, and making transactions, shifting from offline to online, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said.
“We must carefully and immediately anticipate, prepare, and plan such changes ” the President said during a limited cabinet meeting on Digital Transformation Planning, Monday, (3/8) at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta.
On that occasion, the President also issued five directives as follows:
First, the President ordered his Cabinet to expand access to and improve digital infrastructure.
“I have talked to Minister of Communication and Informatics on this issue. We also talked about measures to improve internet services in 12,500 villages, as well as in public service points,” he said.
Second, President Jokowi ordered his Cabinet to prepare digital transportation roadmap in strategic sectors, including government, public services, social assistance, education, health, trade, industry, and broadcasting sectors.
“Digital infrastructure that we have built must not have very low utility,” the President said.
Third, the Head of State also told his Cabinet to accelerate integration of the National Data Center.
Fourth, President Jokowi also ordered his Cabinet to prepare human capital in the digital sector.
“Our country needs around 9 million digital talents for the next fifteen years. This is pivotal to carry out digital transformation and we need to prepare this seriously,” said President Jokowi.
The Head of State also pointed out that Indonesia needs approximately 600,000 digital talents per year in order to build a good ecosystem for the growth of digital talents.
Fifth, President Jokowi noted that regulations and funding scheme for digital transformation must be prepared immediately, while citing that the result of a survey done by IMD World Digital Competitiveness in 2019 which places Indonesia at rank 56th out of 63 countries in terms of digital competitiveness.
“We are far below, even lower than some of our neighboring countries in ASEAN, for example Thailand which is ranked 40, Malaysia at 26, and Singapore at 2,” the President said. (FID / EN)
Translated by: Estu Widyamurti
Reviewed by: M. Ersan Pamungkas
