President Jokowi: Build Synergy to Prepare Digital Generation
President Jokowi, accompanied by Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir, Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, and Founder of digital content platform Narasi, Najwa Shihab, officially launches the Digital Generation Acceleration Movement at the JCC, Jakarta, Wednesday (12/15) (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/Lukas)
Indonesia has a great potential of digital market which development has been accelerated due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The statement was made by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo during the Launch of the Digital Generation Acceleration Movement at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in Jakarta, Wednesday (12/15).
“As of today, we have 2,319 start-ups. The number keeps increasing every day. We have one decacorn. We have seven unicorns and a lot of soonicorns that are continuously supported to be unicorn and decacorn,” President Jokowi said.
The President further said that Indonesia must also be ready to deal with global digital progress.
“I remember when I met Mark Zuckerberg in 2016 in the US, he invited me to play table tennis with oculus [virtual reality]. He told me, ‘Mr. President Jokowi, in 10-15 years we can play table tennis like this.’ Everyone later can buy a virtual land, build their virtual businesses. There will be virtual malls, virtual games, virtual offices, virtual tourist attractions,” the President said.
Big companies around the globe including Facebook, Epic Game, Roblox, and Microsoft are competing to build Metaverse. Thus, President Jokowi expressed his hope that Indonesia can prepare this kind of strategy.
“Our country must prepare a strategy so that we are not left behind by other countries. Therefore, I told Ministers, State-Owned Companies, and all stakeholders that we do not have a lot of time to catch up. And this country will be a developed country if we can make a great leap in two years,” he said.
On that occasion, the President said that the hardest things are to prepare a number of digital talents and provide qualified mentors. Through Kampus Merdeka (Freedom Campus) and Merdeka Belajar (Freedom to Learn) programs it is expected that these issues can be addressed.
Therefore, President Jokowi ordered technology companies and big companies in Indonesia to create an internship program for students.
“If we have digital mindset, digital skill, we can also create a digital culture in our country,” the President added.
Regarding digital governance, President Jokowi has ordered Minister of Communication and Informatics Johnny G. Plate to immediately build digital infrastructure.
“We have to chase it because it is a competition. Once we stop, we will be left far behind. There is still opportunity. Our digital economy will grow if our digital infrastructure is ready, our digital talent is ready, our digital governance is ready, our digital regulation is ready, so that an ecosystem of digital society will be built in our country,” he said.
Furthermore, President Jokowi expressed his belief that a collaboration initiated by Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises through Merah Putih Fund, Narasi through Indonesia Digital Tribe, and Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology through Microcredentials will be able to boost the development of digital ecosystem in Indonesia. (FID/AIT/ST) (AP/MMB)
