"Indonesia's low digital competitiveness is what causes the nation's low digital literacy. This condition has made Indonesia vulnerable to the spread of hoax, hate speech, radicalism, pornography, and cyber bullying," Yunus noted in a press statement on Monday.
Yunus called to monitor this phenomenon together since it could erode the culture that Indonesian people have internalized and have become part of their unique life style.
"If the local culture gets eroded, then Indonesian people face the risk of losing their identity as friendly, tolerant, helpful, and polite people," he explained.
The local culture is expected to be able to become a powerful shield to block any foreign values that do not align with Indonesia's culture, he added.
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"Digital transformation is something that is unavoidable. Local culture is currently being tested in order to adapt to the modern era," Yunus noted.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Telematics Society (MASTEL) Sarwoto Atmosutarno believes that understanding local culture amid the vortex of digital transformation will allow Indonesia to reap varied benefits of digital transformation while also preventing its harmful effects.
"Digital transformation by utilizing the local culture also plays an important role for the development and sustainability of Indonesian people," he elaborated.
"Understanding the role of the nation's positive values and rich local culture that drive the success of digital transformation can fix several aspects, such as the strategic index in the millennium development goals, digital competitiveness index, and other important indexes for realising the Golden Indonesia 2045," he affirmed.
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Translator: Arnidhya Zhafira, Fadhli R
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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