A Measurement of Progress

Published in

RISTEK Fasilkom UI

6 min readSep 3, 2020

Analysis of technological development discrepancy in Indonesia, and how equal progress can be made.

Indonesia is on the verge of becoming an upper-middle-income country. Over the last few decades, Indonesia has made promising accomplishments in certain areas including sustainable economic growth, increased availability of public services, a decrease of poverty rates to single digits, and investments in key infrastructure needs. One of the key factors in this progress is the adoption of information technology. Information technology takes form in various applications and instances, thus prove to be a rather abstract and difficult topic to discuss. So, we will be analyzing the adoption of its most popular and basic form: The Internet.

Being Online == Being Alive

The internet has been the backbone of today’s modern society. With the internet available to us 24/7, it’s almost hard to think about how we would go on our daily routine without it. In January 2020, there were 175.4 million internet users in Indonesia (Kemp, 2020). While this number shows that the majority (64 percent) of the Indonesian population is well versed in using the internet, it also shows that a certain amount of the population has not yet adopted even the most basic instance of what is considered popular technology. This means that technology instances that are common in urban communities may be something of complete foreign nature for some demographic groups. Such occurrence raises the concern that there is a gap in the accessibility and availability of technology in the regions of Indonesia.

Numbers and Figures

United Nation’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) developed Information and Communication Technologies Development Index (IDI) to measure the progress of technological development based on internationally agreed Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) indicators. Averaging a score of 4.33 out of 10, Indonesia ranks 111 out of 176 countries. If we are comparing Indonesia with higher ranking countries such as Iceland (score 8.98, rank 1) or South Korea (score 8.85, rank 2) there is a concerning gap that should be taken into account. The five-point gap raises the big question: what are we doing wrong?

Badan Pusat Statistik Indonesia (BPS) expands ITU’s index by developing Indeks Pembangunan Teknologi Informasi dan Komunikasi (IP-TIK), an index to measure technological development and digital discrepancy among Indonesia’s regions. According to this index, turns out there is an even bigger discrepancy between urban and rural regions in Indonesia. With the national capital Jakarta scoring 7.61, there is a staggering discrepancy between Jakarta (7.61), the national score (4.99), and lowest-ranking Papua (2.95). This gap shows that there hasn’t been an equal technological development in Indonesia. Failure in providing equal growth is not something we can afford if Indonesia is to maximize its potential.

Why bother?

The digital ecosystem in Indonesia is promising positive things. Asian Development Bank, in collaboration with The Ministry of Finance of Indonesia, projected Indonesia’s digital economy to be worth $13.3 billion by 2025 as well as being one of the most vibrant e-commerce markets in the ASEAN region. Being home to several unicorn start-ups, it is safe to say that we are not lacking technical talent resources. With such a promising vantage point, Indonesia should be set to reap the benefits of the digital era. However, this privilege is not available to everyone. For certain demographic groups, access to technology is difficult. These difficulties are not only a technical challenge but also a societal and educational one. People from rural and remote regions may find difficulties in adopting technology in their life. Lower-income Indonesians living in urban regions may also find it hard to adopt technologies that are just well out of their economic reach. A study in The US found that lower income levels tend to reflect lower adoption in technology. This would further influence the quality of life of less fortunate people. When basic and necessary technologies such as internet access is still considered a luxury, we can only project social disparities to be even worse, risking future social and political instability. As the saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, we can’t hope to advance far before we tackle this problem.

Steps forward

Now that we understand about tech gap in Indonesia, what can be our next steps? To achieve technological equality, there are three key aspects to build on: infrastructure, education, and change of attitude.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure investment efforts like Palapa Ring have been made to narrow the technological access gap in Indonesia. In late 2019, the Indonesian government, via its Ministry of Communication and Information, announced the completion of the Palapa Ring project. It aims to provide access to 4G internet services to more than 500 regencies across the country. The nation-wide project is key if Indonesia is to provide equal access to the internet. While this is an exciting accomplishment, it should not be the finish line. A report shows that while internet connection is available in rural areas, it is still far from being reliable. There is always room for improvement, and we should always strive to do better.

Education

With key infrastructure available, what’s next is to raise awareness on why technology is important. Tech literacy and educations are key to maximize technology utilization. Providing access to technologies such as the internet without giving proper information on how to utilize it is like going sailing on a ship without learning how to navigate the ocean: you can only get lost. Minimally educated internet users are what triggers excessive disinformation content often found today. The phenomenon can only get worse if no improvements are made in educating people on how to utilize technology. More importantly, technological education shouldn’t only be provided in schools. Education on this matter should be made available to the public, and also fostered among people of older generations and policymakers.

Change of Attitude

A paper published by Stanford University acknowledges the importance of general mind-set and attitude towards technology. While technologies such as computers and smartphones are commonly associated as a luxury and a privilege, it should no longer be treated as such. Basic access to technology should be viewed as a crucial necessity. The general public must come to realize how powerful technology can be, and should embrace technology as a tool to improve their quality of life. We should start treating technology not only as a means of entertainment but also as a tool to increase productivity and life quality.

Conclusion

Indonesia is set to become a future economic power, and technology utilization will be playing a key role to determine our potentials. Technology adoption is one of the indicators of progress, and it seems we haven’t been able to maximize our potentials. The technology gap is the leading factor that stutters Indonesia’s growth, both in technological and economic development. Varying degrees of discrepancy can be found across regions in Indonesia, with access to technology, digital literacy, and usage attitude playing the key roles in causing this discrepancy.

Real efforts should be made to achieve technological equality, so Indonesian people can improve their quality of life. To achieve technological equality, we should first make basic technology accessible to everyone. Accessible technology can be a gateway to either positive progress or negative problems. Therefore, education on technology should be fostered and be made available for the general public. To start progressing with technology, we should treat technology as a means to accomplish great things. We should also start acting as creators and innovators, and not only as consumers.

There exists a distinct gap in technological development in Indonesia, and we should work together to narrow the gap. We have to make sure everyone has the same rights and equal access to technology, so we can progress for a better future together

Writer: Alif Mahardhika
Editor: Yafonia Hutabarat

RISTEK Fasilkom UI 2020
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