Developing E-Government in Indonesia

Published on February 02, 2023

The Covid-19 global pandemic brought about some challenges, and to tackle them, countries worldwide have improved their digital transformation. By taking on the quest to improve digital transformation, technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and loT are fast becoming the order of the day.

Indonesia’s government is not left out on this digital journey, as they’ve been working on ways to maximize the benefits of digital transformation. The Indonesian government is not leaving any stone unturned in exploring digitalization as a means of improving governance and reviving the economy.

Digital government in Indonesia is not only a good idea, but it also reduces the cost of living and improves general operations in the country. The government will become more productive and efficient, and the citizens will not be left out of the advantages of digital transformation.

For instance, one significant benefit digital transformation brings is ushering a government into the digital realm, which grants them access to modern technologies that improve the way of living in the country.

Indonesia: Digital Economy Opportunities

The president of Indonesia, President Joko Widodo, has made it clear to leverage the digital transformation momentum caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government of Indonesia, through the Ministry of Communication and informatics (Kominfo), has risen to the occasion and announced the digital road map for 2021-2024. The road map aims to improve Indonesia’s digital transformation program; the road map focuses on four critical sectors:

1.  Digital Infrastructure

Below is a list of Indonesia’s existing digital infrastructure:

●     224,573 km of terrestrial and 123,869 km of subsea fiberoptic backbone

●     559,020 base transceiver stations

●     5 Gbps of satellite capacity consists of 5 national commercial telecommunication satellites and four foreign communications satellites under the lease.

Infrastructure in Indonesia is considered a significant factor for digital transformation, and the government has invested in ICT infrastructure development, including installing 4G infrastructure in more than 10,000 subregions in 2022.

Also, the Indonesian government has included ICT infrastructure development in the national medium-term plan. The estimated amount required to carry out this project is around USD 31.1 Billion. Although the estimate is a huge one, the Indonesian government has planned to raise 98% of the fund from the private sector.

2.  Digital Government

The Indonesian government released Presidential Regulation 95/2018 in 2018. The regulation includes providing strategies for the eGovernment system that centers on different sectors such as budget planning, data and information, business process, eGovernment applications, eGovernment infrastructure, and other eGovernment services.

Indonesia is also working on merging different government data under One Data Indonesia (Satu Data Indonesia/SDI). This initiative is approved by Presidential Regulation 39/2019; the goal is to make quality accessible data that can be distributed across the country.

3.  Digital Economy

According to a survey, the Indonesia Digital economy is estimated to be above USD 124 Billion by the end of 2025. It is safe to say that Indonesia is on the right part to becoming a leading digital economy globally.

The Indonesian government is working on bringing more than 64 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) onboard from all over the country to help them go digital.

The government is planning on helping 30 million MSMEs go digital by 2024.

Also, the GoTo Group formed by the merger of Gojek and Tokopedia is working on a super app capable of merging eGovernment, transport, education, logistics, financial services, and communications.

The Indonesian government is working on producing startups in the industrial, education, real estate, and financial services.

4.  Digital Society

For a country to have a thriving digital economy, it must first have a successful digital society.

Society must first be willing to embrace digital transformation. In light of this, the Indonesian government has arranged a Three-Tier Digital Talent Development approach:

1)    Basic

2)    Intermediate

3)    Advanced

The first tier is designed to provide citizens with basic digital skills. The plan is to have at least 12.5 million Indonesians trained in basic digital skills.

The second tier aims to train at least 100,000 fresh graduates and professionals with intermediate digital skills in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

The third tier is designed to train decision-makers in the public and private sectors in advanced digital skills. The aim is to introduce at least 300 participants.

The Indonesian government keeps introducing different programs to help achieve a digital society.

Some of these initiatives include the National Movement on Digital Literacy and the Digital Talent Scholarship. The government is working with prestigious technology companies to make this happen.

Conclusion

The Indonesian government has done a great job when it comes to running a digital government in the sense that they made sure all the sectors and areas in the country experience digital transformation. Regardless of their achievement, there’s still room for improvement as the Indonesian government continues to make more efforts for a better digital government in Indonesia.

Sources:

https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/indonesia-digital-economy-opportunities

https://ycpsolidiance.com/article/indonesia-government-digital-transformation

https://govinsider.asia/intl-en/article/is-indonesia-on-track-to-a-fully-digital-government-by-2025

About the Author

Mohammad J Sear is focused on bringing purpose to digital in government.

He has obtained his leadership training from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA and holds an MBA from the University of Leicester, UK.

After a successful 12+ years career in the UK government during the premiership of three Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair, Mohammad moved to the private sector and has now for 20+ years been advising government organizations in the UK, Middle East, Australasia and South Asia on strategic challenges and digital transformation.

He is currently working for Ernst & Young (EY) and leading the Digital Government practice efforts across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and is also a Digital Government and Innovation lecturer at the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France.

As a thought-leader some of the articles he has authored include: “Digital is great but exclusion isn’t – make data work for driving better digital inclusion” published in Harvard Business Review, “Holistic Digital Government” published in the MIT Technology Review, “Want To Make Citizens Happy – Put Experience First” published in Forbes Middle East.

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