The digital transformation which earlier went rather slowly has found its way to accelerate during this pandemic. Why do I say it has found its way to accelerate? This is because if we look at  (the situation) during this pandemic
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic has speeded up the nation’s digital transformation, which has been on the national agenda of the Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin administration in pursuit of Indonesia Onward 2024.

“The digital transformation which earlier went rather slowly has found its way to accelerate during this pandemic. Why do I say it has found its way to accelerate? This is because if we look at (the situation) during this pandemic, we are highly dependent on digital-based activities,” expert staff for digital transformation, creativity, and human resources to the coordinating minister for economic affairs, Mira Tayyiba, said during a webinar here on Monday.

The digital-based activities range from online learning, working, to participating in religious services from home, she noted.

“So, during this pandemic, we can say we can take a short course of how important is digital (technology); so, the agenda of digital transformation needs to be accelerated,” she added.

Indonesia is pursuing the vision of emerging as an advanced nation by 2045, for which, economic transformation is a requirement, Mira noted.

Digitalization is an instrument of economic transformation which would allow the nation to achieve its vision because it will transform the economy from being dependent on natural resources to being manufacturing- and modern service-oriented, she pointed out.

Indonesia has the initial capital to encourage digitalization, with 180 million of its population having access to the internet. Nearly 150 million people are active internet users and 105 million are online services users, she stated.

“Information and communications technology infrastructure has been much (widely) available though it must be upgraded to at least 4G. The other factor is that one-third of our population are youths, or Generation Y, who are very adaptive to digital technology,” Mira said.

President Joko Widodo himself has highlighted the significance of digital transformation, including expanding infrastructure, preparing a roadmap in strategic sectors, accelerating the integration of data centers, grooming human resources, and preparing regulations and funding schemes, she pointed out.

The Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs has noted that sharing/platform economy, particularly the e-commerce marketplace, fintech, and ride-sharing have driven the digital economy in the country.

According to Google, Temasek, and Bain&Company in 2019, Indonesia has recorded the largest and fastest internet-based economic growth in Southeast Asia.

The country's digital economic potential is projected to reach US$133 billion in 2025, which would be more than one-third of the region's combined potential, pegged at US$300 billion. (INE)

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Translator: Ade irma Junida/Suharto
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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