"The amount of research and development funds has reached Rp26 trillion, but they are placed in several ministries and government agencies," Jokowi said here on Saturday, commenting on Bukalapak CEO Achmad Zaky`s criticism over the R&D budget.
To enable the R&D funds to be properly used for helping Indonesia achieve advancement in technological innovations, Jokowi opined that a big institution that could realize the R&D targets was needed.
"There must be a big institution to enable the targeted R&D programs to be properly achieved. By doing so, innovations will appear in our country," Jokowi, who is seeking reelection in the upcoming presidential elections, noted.
Asked about the private sector`s role in assisting the country`s endeavor to develop the technological innovations, he stated this matter was still discussed, particularly in the attempt to support human resources and innovative development.
"We must encourage and support our e-commerce platforms, including Go-Jek, Traveloka, Tokopedia, and Bukalapak, to develop our economy," he remarked.
The issue of the R&D budget has attracted public attention after Bukalapak founder and CEO, Achmad Zaky, tweeted his comment on Indonesia`s R&D budget, saying that it was smaller than those of several other countries and wrote "May a new president be able to increase it (budget)."
On Friday, the social media platform Twitter was flooded with the hashtag of #uninstallBukalapak in response to Zaky`s controversial tweet that had made several Twitter users unhappy.
The controversy might be linked to the phrase "new president" despite the fact that in the tweet, Zaky also revealed the ranks of countries with huge amount of R&D budget
Zaky has apologized to Jokowi for his recent tweet that triggered outrage among Twitter users, who have accused his tweet of favoring one of the presidential candidates.
Zaky expressed apology and tendered a clarification over his tweet during his meeting with Jokowi at the Merdeka Palace here on Saturday.
Related News: Bukalapak CEO expresses apology to Jokowi
Related News: Jokowi urges Twitter users to stop uninstalling Bukalapak
Reporting by Agus Salim
Editing by Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Azizah Fitriyanti
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
