E-Musrenbang in Aceh, what are the challenges?
The application of electronic government facilitates the public to participate in the policy formulation process. Effective e-government implementation will provide great benefits in increasing public participation, not only expanding information channels but also simplifying the communication process (Polat, 2005). ICT penetration in public participation provides additional information channel options to the government, from previously using television, radio, newspapers and other traditional communication channels to be more diverse with the increase in online information channels that guarantee two-way communication. Furthermore, the use of ICT changed the process of participation which previously seemed difficult, expensive and time-consuming to be more simple, real-time and low-priced.
The benefits mentioned above become a reference for the Local Government of Aceh, Indonesia, to carry out Musrenbang (Annual Deliberation of Development Planning) electronically, or commonly called e-Musrenbang. Musrenbang is a forum among stakeholders in preparing regional development plans and national development plans (Sindre, 2012). The use of ICT in Musrenbang is expected to help stakeholders in compiling reports on Musrenbang results from the village level to the national level, as well as analyzing and formulating policies based on community priorities. It means e-Musrenbang ensures the alignment of development plans from the village level to the national level. Additionally, e-Musrenbang minimizes (even prevents) waste due to purchasing infrastructure that is not following community needs.
However, in practice, there are still many obstacles encountered that have caused the implementation of e-Musrenbang in Aceh not to be as effective as expected. During the two years of implementation, three main problems hampered the effectiveness of e-musrenbang implementation, namely:
Internet Literacy
Internet literacy is an important part of the digital era, where technological developments are increasingly massive and the internet is one of the basic needs in life. Simply stated, internet literacy can be interpreted as the ability to search for information needed by using the internet (Council of Europe, 2017).
According to data compiled by wearesocial.com (2019) internet users in Indonesia reached 150 million people, it can be said that internet literacy in Indonesia has reached 56% of the total population of Indonesia. In contrast to these data, a survey from APJII (Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association) states that the total internet users in Aceh are only to 2.25 million people (42% of the total population or 1.5% of Indonesian internet users) (APJII, 2019, as cited in Jayani, 2019).
Studying the data of internet users in Aceh which do not reach half the population, meaning that there are about more than 3 million people (total Aceh population 5.28 million) who do not get the right to participate in the formulation of regional policies. The Musrenbang results in regions with low internet literacy levels tend to be ignored and conversely in regions with high internet literacy levels tend to get many benefits from it. Inequality in development will ultimately create jealousy which has implications for disunity.
Internet Infrastructure
Internet development and the use of digital technology in Indonesia are unique compared to other countries in the world. Indonesia’s geographical condition which consists of 17 thousand islands and the uneven population distribution are two challenges for the government in providing and equitable access to the internet. Digital technology and the internet are vital things to be optimized to improve the quality of government services that lead to improving people’s welfare.
Not much different from the condition of Indonesia in general. The condition of the internet infrastructure in Aceh is also experiencing the same situation. Chairman of the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), Jamalul Izza in his interview with cyberthreat.id said that Aceh is currently still lagging in terms of the internet infrastructure, this is due to the lack of Internet Service Provider (ISP) penetration in Aceh (Rahman, 2019). This has resulted in the construction of internet infrastructure in Aceh seemingly slow and can even be said no progress for the past few years.
As proofs, 37 villages in Aceh Jaya district still do not have adequate internet access (Zammil, 2019), also Pulau Banyak Subdistrict, Aceh Singkil District even has no internet access at all (Randy, 2018).
Information Bias
Musrenbang can be said to be the main channel for the community to express their aspirations. Through this pathway, most of the people’s aspirations are channeled as a reference in planning development in the following year. On the other hand, aspirations conveyed through the Musrenbang can also be categorized as the weakest path in the agenda formulation and proposed activities. It is caused by the information bias received by the community, even worse, sometimes the Musrenbang information does not reach the community. As a result, the community does not know how the Musrenbang process takes place, how big is the chance that their aspirations will be accommodated and acted upon, and how much of the activities contained in the planning document originate from the Musrenbang results. Simply stated, the community does not get valid and reliable information from the government about the overall Musrenbang activities.
This information bias causes community participation in Musrenbang to decrease. For example, community participation in Musrenbang in the Seruyan district has decreased from year to year due to unclear follow-up from the Musrenbang (Pro Sampit, 2017). If it left unsolved, over time this problem will undermine public trust in the government. The lack of public trust makes it difficult for government programs to run (due to lack of community support) and, worse, the community will be easier to provoke.
What to do?
Like diseases that have a cure, every problem that occurs must have a solution. This article will provide a solution following the context of the Aceh province based on the observations of the author who was also directly involved in the Musrenbang process.
Village community training on how to use the internet can be arranged to tackle the first problem. This training should be prioritized for village government officials. This is considered important because as the spearhead of community service, the village government apparatus task is serving all village administration needs which often deal with applications that are sometimes difficult for ordinary people to understand (not user-friendly). This training is expected to facilitate service delivery to the community. Furthermore, village government officials are also encouraged to transfer knowledge to the community hence the community can perform self-service in using administrative service applications.
The government needs to partner with the private sector to increase the reach of the internet. This is quite effective in tackling the second problem. Reflecting on the experience of several cities in Indonesia such as Bandung that took one of the ISPs as a partner in realizing Bandung’s smart city.
So far, the minimal number of ISPs penetration in Aceh has become the main cause of internet coverage problems. The minimal number of ISPs in Aceh is caused by the unfavorable investment climate conditions in Aceh after the tsunami and prolonged armed conflict. Investors are still afraid to invest in Aceh. it is a big task for the Local Government of Aceh to convince investors, especially ISPs, to invest in Aceh and support the government in providing equitable internet access.
For the third problem, the government needs to increase information channels about the Musrenbang process in a constructive manner to the public. This improvement can be done by adding information dissemination channels such as social media which have been seen as effective in disseminating information. The use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will greatly disseminate information about the Musrenbang, considering most of Indonesia’s population are active on social media. The government should regularly update the musrenbang process and design the information in interesting content therefore it is easy for the public to understand. Additionally, events need to be held to attract the public’s interest in accessing the information provided, either by making a contest with money prize or shopping vouchers. Providing financial incentives will increase participation, especially in low-income communities (Gross & Bettencourt, 2019).
References
Council of Europe. (2017). Internet Literacy Handbook. Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/internet-literacy-handbook/1680766c85
Gross, D., & Bettencourt, A. F. (2019). Financial Incentives for Promoting Participation in a School-Based Parenting Program in Low-Income Communities. Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research, 20(4), 585–597. doi:10.1007/s11121–019–0977-y
Jayani, D. H. (2019). Survei APJII: Sumatra Utara Pengguna Internet Tebesar di Pulau Sumatra. Retrieved from https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2019/05/16/survei-apjii-sumatra-utara-pengguna-internet-tebesar-di-pulau-sumatra
Polat, R. (2005). The Internet and Political Participation. European Journal of Communication — EUR J COMMUN, 20, 435–459. doi:10.1177/0267323105058251
Pro Sampit. (2017). Huuuu Payah…Partisipasi Musrenbang Menurun. Pro Sampit. Retrieved from https://sampit.prokal.co/read/news/7570-huuuu-payahpartisipasi-musrenbang-menurun.html
Rahman, A. (2019). Penetrasi Internet di Aceh Belum Maksimal. Retrieved from https://cyberthreat.id/read/41/Penetrasi-Internet-di-Aceh-Belum-Maksimal
Randy, D. (2018). Warga Pulau Banyak Barat Belum Nikmati Akses Internet. Waspada. Retrieved from https://waspadaaceh.com/2018/06/19/warga-pulau-banyak-barat-belum-nikmati-akses-internet/
Sindre, G. M. (2012). Civic Engagement and Democracy in Post-Suharto Indonesia: A Review of Musrenbang, the Kecamatan Development Programme, and Labour Organising. PCD Journal, 4(1–2), 1–40. doi:https://doi.org/10.22146/pcd.25766
wearesocial.com. (2019). Digital 2019: Indonesia. In D. Indonesia (Ed.), Digital 2019.
Zammil. (2019). 37 Desa di Aceh Jaya Masih Sulit Akses Jaringan Internet. Waspada. Retrieved from https://waspadaaceh.com/2019/02/16/37-desa-di-aceh-jaya-masih-sulit-akses-jaringan-internet/
