Civilization Deficiency

Amid the euphoria of the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 there is overwhelming optimism for a future filled with advancement.

However, a Latin saying goes, nature and man cannot leap beyond the divine law. The first warning has come from Anne Booth, an economics professor at SOAS University of London (Kompas 7/12). According to Booth, Indonesia has twice missed the golden opportunity to promote high economic growth and realize public welfare by failing to manage its rich natural resources.

First, it missed the bonanza and windfall profit from the oil and gas price hikes in the 1980s as one of the largest oil and gas exporting countries. Second, it failed to draw great benefit from the momentum of soaring export volumes and prices of extractive products in the 1990s. Booth’s statement is parallel to the resource curse (Dutch disease) thesis that constitutes Indonesia’s latent problem.

The second warning is that development dragged down by foreign debts for basic infrastructure investments and various subsidies through Green Revolution programs and the 1967-1997 take-off strategy has destroyed and marginalized people’s economic welfare, especially in agriculture, fisheries and plantations. Rapid liberalization along with capital globalization has sidelined local economic forces and drained natural resources. The accumulation of wealth is noticeable in the discrepancy the country’s economic structure today.

Indonesia ranks 7th in the world in the crony capitalism index. This rate worsened from 18th in 2010 to 8th in 2014.

Over the last decade, wealth concentration has become a concern. The Global Wealth Report 2018 showed that the top 1 percent richest people in Indonesia control 46.6 percent of national wealth, rising from 45.4 percent in 2017. Meanwhile, the top 10 percent control 75.3 percent of national wealth. Indonesia’s position in 2018 was the fifth worst in the world after Thailand, Russia, Turkey and India. Around two thirds of the wealth of Indonesia’s richest people came from cronyism. Indonesia ranks 7th in the world in the crony capitalism index. This rate worsened from 18th in 2010 to 8th in 2014.

The empirical evidence shows the inherent corrupt structure and culture in the political-economic setup. The various stimulus policies have not touched on the core of the problem concerning the production structure, offering guarantees or providing guidance. The stagnant development of cooperatives reflects these shortcomings.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

People visit the Start Up Indonesia booth in the NextDev Summit 2019 at the Jakarta Convention Center in Central Jakarta in December (7/12/2019). The NexDev Summit 2019 was a technology conference that focused on generating positive social impacts to inspire and produce new ideas for the progress of the Indonesian nation.

Structure and culture

Will the third golden opportunity in the form of a demographic bonus bring about advancement or a repeat the failure? What is the roadmap to create a “golden generation” one to two decades ahead when the productive-age population reaches its optimum point? At least three priorities are needed to welcome the productive-age population explosion.

First, reference should be made to survey results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the OECD 2018, researching 600,000 youngsters aged 15 in 79 countries, in which our students’ scores dropped in three competence areas: literacy, mathematics and science. The world’s average scores were 487 for literacy, 489 for mathematics and 498 for science. Indonesian students’ competence scores were 371 for literacy (ranking 74th), 379 for mathematics (ranking 73rd) and 391 for science (ranking 71st).

Since 1947 the basic education curriculum has changed 11 times, but no significant progress has been made to fulfill the main requirements for science and technology. The challenge for curriculum changes is to ensure this will not continue, which is even more necessary to achieve the dreamed “leap” forward.

Second, nurturing a golden generation requires mature and measured planning. The fact is that early age education and kindergartens are not under government control, mostly being managed by society on a self-help basis so that their quality is hard to gauge. With the high maternity death rate and stunting, an integrated approach is needed.

Third, community health centers (puskesmas) should function as the first and primary bases for early detection of nutritional deficiencies and public health concerns. The time has come for puskesmas to be staffed by medical information specialists to disseminate healthy living patterns and prevent various catastrophic diseases that have proven to drain the budget for health insurance. A strategy to improve the system and management of the Social Security and Healthcare Agency is urgent.

Based on data from Statistics Indonesia, the country is home to 121 million millennial aged (15-34) people. There needs to be thorough policy formulation to ensure this generation meets its potential particularly in the digital era.

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Civil service applicants submit documents at the Sawunggaling Building, Surabaya City Hall, in January (7/1/2019). The documents of up to 434 civil service applicants were used to check the authenticity of the requirements for the application process.

Structural and cultural restoration in the political-economic setup demands honesty, openness and strong political will. To overcome the inequality caused by unhealthy political-economic practices, a number of measures are needed, including deregulation, investment promotion, infrastructure procurement and bureaucratic reform. Inequality stemming from disparities in physical asset ownership, capital access and human resources obviously cannot be solved by means of economic affirmations and subsidies alone. Moreover, the 2019 Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index recorded that 7.0 percent of the population remains in poverty. This means that 16.6 million people still belong to the multi-dimensional poverty category.

The informal sector cannot be relied upon to boost state revenue from taxes.

The Gross Domestic Product structure dominated by the non-tradable (services) sector continues to be overshadowed by limited manpower absorption due to a lack of quality human resources. The informal sector cannot be relied upon to boost state revenue from taxes.

Civilization deficiency

The economic-political oligarchy that has increasingly characterized the landscape of democracy has hampered progress. A total of 262 members of the House of Representatives (DPR) are affiliated with 1,016 corporations (Tempo, 2/10). The others are affiliated with elite party circles and regional heads. Hundreds of regional heads and representatives have

been implicated in corruption in the procurement of goods and services with their cronies.

A crisis of democracy can be noticed in four facts: parties are mushrooming but quality leaders are not being produced, the people’s representatives face a legitimacy crisis, political party treachery is widespread and oligarchy is the norm.

A Kompas Research and Development study (23/9) highlighted the public’s evaluation of the House of Representatives (DPR), coming to the conclusion that the majority of lawmakers had no aspirations, their image was negative and the public’s input was ignored in favor of party interests.

Such a system can dent the public’s expectations for advancement. In 1966 Bung Hatta reminded parties that they have the role of educating people to realize their responsibility for the common safety of the nation.

Today, we can witness that parties are neglecting their essential role and are busy pursuing power. We need to acknowledge these deficiencies in ethics, values and integrity. It all originates in education that fails to foster common sense and instills a permissive to corruption, collusion and nepotism. Industrial Revolution 4.0 is not a panacea to these deficiencies. There are two possible outcomes: leaping into the era of rapid advancement or conversely causing more profound destruction.

Suwidi Tono, Coordinator of “Becoming Indonesia” Forum