VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Member of the General Election Commission (KPU) Viryan Aziz reminded that election digitalization in Indonesia, conducted by the government, should not ignore digital sovereignty of the people.

"Do not let election digitalization ignore the one important keyword, digital sovereignty, which means that the digital life of people is guaranteed to be maintained, controlled, and managed by our country," Aziz noted in a webinar on 2024 simultaneous elections, Monday.

He noted that digital sovereignty should not be controlled or managed by other parties outside Indonesia. Furthermore, sovereignty can be interpreted, among other things, as optimal security provided by the state for the personal data of Indonesian citizens as voters.

To realize digital sovereignty, the government needs to implement steps to achieve digital sovereignty through multi-layered cyber defense, according to Aziz.

Election digitalization is the utilization of digital technology in several stages of the election, such as the registration of voters and election participants, logistics distribution, ballot recapitulation, result announcement, dissemination of information, transparency, and even post-election research or study.

Aziz considered digital sovereignty in digitizing elections in Indonesia as a challenge for the government, stakeholders, and the public. However, these challenges should be overcome to immediately pursue the implementation of the 2024 General Election.

In addition, Aziz addressed that efforts of the government and election organizers to optimize election digitization will be able to increase public trust.

"Digitalization of the election is able to increase public's trust in the election service provided by the government and KPU," he remarked.

Aziz also highlighted the benefits of election digitization, including easier and simpler implementation of elections. Thus, classic problems in elections, such as a problematic population data system, can be resolved. (antaranews)

Cyber police pose a risk to Indonesia's democratic system, specifically since it could make people hesitant to express their aspirations, according to Institute for Social and Economic Research, Education, and Information Indonesia's (LP3ES') Executive Director.

"They feel a lot of pressure when they want to express their opinions," Nursahid said at a public discussion titled "Politics, Media, and Democracy Year End Report" broadcast on Twitter Space on Sunday evening.

Quoted from the Cyber Patrol official website, Directorate of Cyber Crime (Dittipidsiber) is a task force under the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) tasked with conducting law enforcement against cybercrimes.

Several types of cybercrimes that the task force handles, specifically concerning freedom of speech, are online defamation and hate speech.

Nursahid deemed that the scope of online defamation and hate speech is too broad, thereby making the people hesitant in expressing their opinions in the form of critique on social media.

"Almost 120 people received a warning regarding the contents that they had published on social media during the second quarter of 2021," he remarked.

These incidents made several social media users reluctant in expressing their opinions in the cyber world.

The impact of this pressure is that it lowers the people's confidence to voice their aspirations, which could affect the rate of public participation in stating views concerning various government policies.

Hence, the cyber or virtual police should receive further review in order to not give a false impression that there is a restriction to civil freedom in stating opinions in the social media space, Nursahid said. (Antaranews)

File photo. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett holds a Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Israel, on Dec 5, 2021. (Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via Reuters) - 

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will travel the United Arab Emirates on Sunday (Dec 12) and meet the Gulf state's de facto ruler in the highest-level visit since the countries formalised relations last year.

The trip comes amid heightened regional tension as world powers' try to renew a nuclear deal with Iran. Israel and some Gulf Arabs share concern over Iranian activities in the region.

"I will be going out today to the United Arab Emirates, in the first visit ever by an Israeli prime minister," Bennett told a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday.

There was no immediate confirmation from Abu Dhabi.

The UAE along with Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco moved toward normal ties with Israel under a US-sponsored initiative dubbed the "Abraham Accords" in reference to the biblical patriarch revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Bennett's trip on Sunday would be the first by an Israeli premier to any of those four countries.

He will meet Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on Monday, Bennett's office said.

The two leaders will discuss deepening ties, with an emphasis on economic issues that will contribute to prosperity, welfare and strengthening stability between the countries, the Israeli statement added//CNA

A general view of the Burj Khalifa and the downtown skyline in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Jun 12, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Christopher Pike) - 

Being raised in the Middle East with a lack of savings and investment culture, many young Arabs are turning to online banking services to help track their spending and budget.

When Mayar Akrameh was growing up in Lebanon, financial advice was simple: work long, work hard and aim for a high-paying job.

Now the 29-year-old management consultant is one of a growing number of young Arabs who are turning to financial technology, or "fintech", to help them save and invest, often a neglected practice in the Middle East.

"We're taught that if you're working and making enough money, even if you hate your job, you're good," she told AFP. "Or they think we're good."

Akrameh moved to the United Arab Emirates in 2019 at the start of Lebanon's financial crisis, which would later see the local currency plunge to all-time lows, with many people denied free access to their savings by stringent banking controls.

The region's economic instability, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, has spurred many to turn to online banking and financial tools.

Akrameh, who did not know how to invest and save money when she started generating income, now uses an app to track her spending.

"It's not just about retiring; it's about living better, having dreams, having time to breathe and reflect," she said.

S&P Global said in a 2019 report that indicators showed Gulf Arab countries appeared the most ready for fintech adoption, with the key driver being demand and a preference by clients for digital banking.

The fintech sector across the Middle East is already growing, according to the Milken Institute think tank.

It estimates that 465 companies will raise more than US$2 billion by 2022 compared with the 30 fintech firms that raised around $80 million in 2017.

In addition to having some of the world's youngest populations and highest unemployment rates, many countries in the Middle East and North Africa rank among the lowest for long-term savers and investors.

Only seven per cent of adults in the region save for retirement, according to the World Bank's 2016 Saving for Old Age report - the lowest across global economies.

"Arabs, we took the really tough path to wealth," said Mark Chahwan, the CEO of Sarwa, a Dubai-based automated financial consultancy firm.

"We think our income is what's going to make us rich instead of our capital," he told AFP.

Most oil-rich Gulf Arab states, including top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, have long provided their citizens with government-sponsored pensions.

But Saudi officials have warned the system is unsustainable, according to Bloomberg, as Riyadh tries to diversify its economy away from oil.

Also, such pensions exclude foreigners, many of whom provide cheap labour and make up a large proportion of the population in many Gulf states.

Chahwan said he has noticed a shift in financial behaviour in the past year, in large part due to the pandemic, which devastated many industries and saw many people lose their jobs.

He said there was an 80 per cent increase in new Sarwa accounts since the first quarter of 2020, with up to 45,000 portfolios of people between the ages of 25 and 45.

Chahwan said the average user was new to the idea of long-term investment, with many Arabs still hesitant about having to wait for benefits later rather than make quick profits.

"We don't have education that revolves around long-term investing," he said, adding that the obstacle remains convincing eager investors of the benefits of delayed gratification.

Another issue is the region's investment landscape, which is mostly limited to so-called high-net-worth individuals, usually defined as people with at least US$1 million in liquid assets.

"If someone wanted to invest US$1,000 or US$10,000, there was not much available," said Haitham Juma, an investment solutions manager at the UAE-based National Bank of Fujairah.

He said smaller-ticket investors need wealth management options with more transparency, accessibility and liquidity that will help build the region's investment market.

"We are still at the early stages of it," said Juma, as local banks and firms seek to create online platforms that educate users and simplify investing.

Making the process easier - or even fun - is key to attracting new investors, as outlined by Lune, a UAE-based finance platform that launched in July.

"It doesn't matter their age, their income or their experience," Alexandre Soued, the app's co-founder, told AFP.

He added that the platform's focus is on the initial steps of managing, saving and then investing, and encouraging them to use simple online tools.

Lune allows its nearly 1,000 users to instantly visualise their spending, swipe to optimise savings, and soon, Soued said, they will be able to compare their savings to others their age.

"People are starting to want to be more independent from younger ages," he told AFP. "And your financial situation is attached to that."//CNA