VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Digital talent scouting in Indonesia within the next 15 years reaches nine million in order to eventually migrate to a digital working environment in all sectors, according to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"In the path to digital transformation, our country needs digital talent, reaching at least nine million, for the next 15 years. This calls for serious preparations to be made," Jokowi remarked during a limited meeting on digital transformation planning at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Monday.

The country will need to create digital talent reaching at least 600 thousand every year to build a digital ecosystem, he emphasized.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people work and interact with others, and it should be utilized as a momentum to expedite migration to a digital working ecosystem.

"This is because during the pandemic and even during the post-pandemic period, structural changes has been brought about in the way of working, in activities, consumption, learning, and transaction, from offline with physical contact to online and digital," the president pointed out.

Jokowi affirmed that digital transformation would require mature planning with a nation-wide policy in place and digital infrastructure capacity enhancement across all regions.

Jokowi believes that digitalization would impact Indonesia's competitiveness in the regional and global market.

"According to a survey of the IMD World Digital Competitiveness in 2019, our country is ranked 56th of the 63 countries. We still rank far below other ASEAN countries, such as Thailand, which was ranked 40th; Malaysia, 26th; and Singapore in the second position," the president remarked.

The IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking measures the capacity and readiness of 63 economies to adopt and explore digital technologies as the main driver for economic transformation in businesses, the government, and society, in general. (ANTARA)