Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Ministry of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions has underlined the importance of using digital technology or digitalization to transform villages into smart villages.

“If they want to become smart villages, they must be digitalized first,” Head of the ministry’s Village and Disadvantaged Region Development and Information Agency Mulyadin Malik told ANTARA in Jakarta on Thursday.

He further said that digital technology must be utilized in various spheres in villages, starting from public services to environmental management.

“Village digitalization includes services, then the people, agricultural managers, environment, and so on,” he added.

He emphasized that villages that implement digitalization well would upgrade their status to smart villages.

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As part of efforts to boost digitalization in villages, the Ministry of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions, through the agency, has organized the 2025 Digital Village Competition.

Villages that have adopted digitalization in governance, community development, and community empowerment can participate in the competition. This year’s competition is themed “Develop Villages, Develop Indonesia.”

According to Malik, the competition aims to create a space for recognizing villages that have succeeded in developing digital innovations.

“This is expected to have an impact on increasing village participation in developing digital villages across Indonesia as well as to be an instrument to measure the development of villages that have implemented digitalization,” he said.

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Translator: Tri Meilani, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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