VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati spoke at length on the digital transformation policy direction for the 2020-2024 period to optimize the potential to maintain financial system stability.

Digital technology can boost the economy but concurrently has the potential to create disruption and instability, for which the right policy direction is deemed necessary, Indrawati affirmed.

"Maintaining financial system stability by leveraging digital technology has become crucial," the minister noted in Jakarta at a virtual Indonesia Digital Conference on Wednesday.

Indrawati highlighted five strategic issues that have become the basis to design the policy on digital transformation, including to address the shortcomings of no internet service in four thousand villages, merely 54.7 percent of the country's population being internet users, slow internet speed with fixed broadband speed of 14 Mbps as compared to the global average of 43 Mbps, and national mobile broadband speed at 10 Mbps as compared to 22.16 Mbps of the global average.

Another strategic issue is the least developed industry in information and communication technology coupled with inadequate quality and quantity of human resources in the sector.

"In order for Indonesia to optimize and maximize the potential of the digital economy, we need to support various policies on infrastructure and human resources," she pointed out.

The government has readied three strategies to implement digital transformation: the completion of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure development, the use of digital infrastructure, and development of supporting facilities.

Four key indicators for the development of ICT infrastructure are the coverage of optical fiber or Palapa Ring, fixed internet broadband speed of 25 Mbps and mobile broadband speed of 20 Mbps, increased ICT Development Index reaching 5-5.3 points, and 100-percent digital broadcast.

The use of digital infrastructure covered five indicators: establishment of three new startup unicorns, implementation of electronic-based government services, online service for farmers and fishermen, smart cities, and scholarship for digital talent.

The development of supporting facilities encompasses three indicators: Indonesian one data, intra-government network, and national data center.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, we can see that this transformation has run remarkably fast, so we need to accelerate the development of infrastructure in this digital information and communication sector," she stated.

According to Indrawati, the digital transformation policy aims to create equal communication access across Indonesia and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of government services for the public and businesspersons.

"It should not only be enjoyed by big cities or provinces with advanced infrastructure. We are optimistic that all regions would be covered by the digital infrastructure," she remarked. (antaranews)