The president has said that the BTS (project progress) keeps going on, (which) means that bandwidth for our people must be ensured
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi expressed his commitment to complete the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) towers' project up until his end of term of office.

"Most importantly, it ends like this. The president has said that the BTS (project progress) keeps going on, (which) means that bandwidth for our people must be ensured," the new minister stated at the Presidential Palace here on Monday.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurated Budi Arie Setiadi as Communication and Informatics Minister, replacing Johnny G. Plate. The decision has been outlined in Presidential Decree Number 62 P of 2023 on the Communication and Informatics Ministry of the Onward Indonesia Cabinet of 2019-2024, dated July 14, 2023.

Jokowi has ordered the newly sworn-in official to prioritize the 2020-2024 4G BTS Projects, which had come to a halt after the earlier minister, Plate, was named as a suspect in the corruption case of that project due to which Rp8.032 trillion (US$533 million) in losses had been incurred.

"We will do what the president says, (but the) point is everyone will move quickly," Minister Setiadi affirmed.

President Jokowi also spoke of forming a task force on information and communications technology to assist the ministry in keeping up with the latest developments in that sector, both in terms of infrastructure and regulation.

"Later on, the details we will discuss, anything technical really. We will inform further," the minister noted.

Setiadi also called for the need to eradicate social media content that raised public concern.

"There is so much (going on), (and) this is not a discussion (that can be done) in a day. We understand that new tech, digitalization, of course (sparks) problems. We will immediately study them, and we execute," he pointed out.

Setiadi said that he aims to promote peace for 2024.

"Those are also the tasks for you all. If there are hoaxes, do not publish it. Just ignore it. We want Indonesia to be peaceful in 2024, unifying (people)," he emphasized.

President Jokowi also inducted Nezar Patria as Deputy Minister of Communication and Informatics.

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Translator: Desca Lidya Natalia, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Sri Haryati
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