Fighting the Enemy of Innovation

KOMPAS/TATANG MULYANA SINAGA

The N-250 aircraft by the third President of the Republic of Indonesia Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie was stored in the PT Dirgantara Indonesia hangar, Bandung City, West Java, on Thursday (12/9/2019).

The inaugural flight of the Gatotkaca N-250 aircraft on 10 Aug. 26 years ago has been declared as National Technology Awakening Day.

The aircraft, equipped with the latest fly-by-wire technology, is now on display at the Aerospace Museum in Yogyakarta. We have made a historical legacy, but there is also deep disappointment on the other hand. This was not the original plan. The development of the N-250 airplane and other high-tech industrial products was intended to become the driving force of the national economy and turn Indonesia into a developed industrial country.

Now, 26 years later, there is renewed determination to make National Technology Awakening Day (Harteknas) a basis for reinforcing research and technology to advance the nation. We hope that this discourse is not just rhetoric and will be realized.

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Looking at past developments and uses of technology, several things can serve as bases for further development, for example, mastering skills in engineering and technology such as those used to develop the N-250. There is no doubt about the capabilities of Indonesia’s technological engineers. However, engineering technology is just one of the capabilities needed in developing high-tech products. Good marketing and management skills are also necessary. One of the criticisms of that era was inefficiency, which made the resulting products too expensive. The locally manufactured Mina Jaya ship was unable to compete with imported ships, even used vessels.

The value-added theory that Habibienomics proposed was promising, but it was easily criticized because the resulting products were expensive and still in a stage of development.

Another issue was the lack of a united national consensus. It is no secret that in that era, a rivalry existed in economic development strategies between two schools of economic thought, Widjojonomics and Habibienomics, which led to unfocused resources. The value-added theory that Habibienomics proposed was promising, but it was easily criticized because the resulting products were expensive and still in a stage of development.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Visitors enthusiastically observe the multipurpose reactor cooling pool facility at the Center for Science and Technology Research (Puspiptek) Serpong G.A. SIWABESY belongs to the National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN), South Tangerang, Banten, on Tuesday (25/9/2018).

The multidimensional financial and economic crisis in 1997-1998 led to the failure of Habibienomics. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which helped Indonesia during the financial crisis, prohibited the financing of high-tech development projects such as the N-250 aircraft. Luckily, some of the legacies of strategic industry from that time are still alive, albeit in a difficult situation. State-owned shipbuilder PT PAL in Surabaya, for example, still exists and is even able to build a submarine.

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Next, Indonesia must prove the truth of its words with action. There is no need to be grandiose with sophisticated discourse. The industries that need urgent development are those related to import substitution, among others. It would be an achievement if we could produce rice, sugar, salt, soybeans, and tropical fruits efficiently and at the same time, are able to substitute imports, because this would prove that we can overcome the enemy of innovation, namely the mentality of “if you can buy it, why make it yourself?”

The challenges will be more complicated in the future. The technologies of Industry 4.0, such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things (IoT), as well as automation, require sharp brains, skilled hands, and a nationalistic spirit. We have to solve this basic problem.

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi).