Sofian Hadiwijaya Conveys Ganjar-Mahfud MD's Views on the Digital Economy

Warung Pintar Co-Founder Sofian Hadiwijaya has now chosen to get involved directly in politics as part of the National Winning Team of Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD. In this team, his position is Executive Director of Technology. DailySocial.id had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Sofian to get an in-depth picture of the vision and mission of the digital economy that will be pursued by the presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs he supports.

Starting the conversation, Sofian said that his interest in politics was actually not a sudden thing. Since around 9 years ago, he has been active in politics, both by overseeing outside activities such as being part of the #KawalPemilu and #KawalPilkada initiatives; to being involved in establishing a new political party in Indonesia. On the other hand, Sofian also said that his family, many of whom worked as public officials and ASN, had also connected him with the world of politics.

So, his decision to support the Ganjar-Mahfud pair had quite strong reasons. First, from Sofian's experience of being active in the startup ecosystem see firsthand Ganjar Pranowo's actions in supporting innovators in Central Java when he was governor.

Sofian gave the example of the Hetero Space initiative which is creative hub all at once co-working space which was promoted by the Central Java Provincial Government together with Impala Network. The regional government's support for innovation activities there is truly felt, so that connections between the community and regulators can be established. This is also considered to make Ganjar more insightful regarding the digital industry, because he often works directly with players in the field.

And according to Sofian, this digital understanding was properly applied by Ganjar in his actions when he was governor. This is demonstrated by a number of digital transformation initiatives growing within the government, including the active use of social media to communicate directly with the public.

“We need leaders who are digitally literate. "So far, Indonesia's digital economy has been growing, but sometimes there are policies that do not support several aspects of the digital industry itself in Indonesia," said Sofian.

Overview of Indonesia's digital industry

Since 2012, Sofian has been active in the digital industry in Indonesia as a talent in the technology sector. His journey in the digital ecosystem, including his experience in founding a digital startup worth millions of dollars, gives him a fairly clear picture of how digitalization is developing in Indonesia.

Sofian feels that the digital economy has democratized various sectors, allowing many people to benefit from it. He gave an example of the various new business opportunities created in this digital economy - including for himself, who as a child probably never thought about having a career in technology. As the application of technology becomes more massive, digital workers are no longer underestimated – in fact, many styles are now adapted to the needs of digital workers (for example working remotely).

“The digital economy helps many people to be productive in making money in new ways. "The digital economy still has big opportunities, but the challenges are still big in Indonesia," he stressed.

Regarding the challenges in growing Indonesia's digital economy, Sofian highlighted three main aspects. The first is related to equal distribution of quality internet access throughout the archipelago. He didn't just hear about this internet connection issue from other people, because when he returned home to a village in Palembang, Sofian also felt firsthand the limitations of connectivity.

"When I returned home to Palembang, the only connection was EDGE [...] even though without a good internet connection, access to knowledge and digital market opportunities was limited," said Sofian.

The second relates to access to digital knowledge – although many have started initiatives to teach digital competencies, according to Sofian, efforts are needed to make them more massive. This includes, for example, efforts to encourage traders in small villages to start learning to sell in marketplace and other activities to encourage more people to become literate and benefit from digitalization itself.

Next is an even distribution of digital talent. This also stems from his experience building a startup community in Palembang. When he succeeded in bringing in venture capitalists (VC), they were still reluctant to invest in local startups there – even though founder-It's good, the solution offered also has a market. It turns out that one of the reasons why VCs doubt that startups can grow rapidly is because there is no availability of competent talent who can support them.

“There is no talent in the area. And this is like chicken and eggs, if we want to train the talent first, then there won't be any startups to absorb it. "Similarly, if you want to build a startup ecosystem first, there isn't much talent [...] but for the digital economy to accelerate, the three challenges above must have solutions, especially in order to distribute digital talent so that it is not only concentrated in Java," said Sofian.

Ganjar-Mahfud MD's digital economic vision

Simply put, Ganjar-Mahfud MD will bringing the success of Hetero Space in Central Java to the national level. This will form a distributed ecosystem in the regions, and each regional head will also provide continuous support. For Ganjar-Mahfud MD, it is important to provide space and support for the younger generation, especially those involved in developing startup businesses.

Apart from that, Sofian explained that in the vision and mission of candidate pair number three, a number of programs have been explained. To answer the first challenge, Ganjar-Mahfud MD if elected will provides free internet services throughout the country. They will ensure the mission zero blank spot realized well.

Then, regarding talent, Ganjar-Mahfud MD believes thatDigital sovereignty will be a foundation for developing local human resources --- so that apart from being able to supply needs in Indonesia, it is hoped that this talent can also be absorbed by the international market. This will start by mapping the distribution of talent, then carrying out an integrated program to carry out training and coaching.

“Digitalization is also about bureaucracy. Mr. Ganjar is committed to bringing digitalization so that it can be more transparent and reach more groups. "Because it is believed that if everything can be digitized, life will become easier, for example, when queuing at the hospital you no longer need to waste time because orders can be made via the application," explained Sofian.

The digital sovereignty that will also be pursued is digital independence. It is exemplified if one day it is fulfilled cloud server in Indonesia will be fully provided provider local. The way to do this is by doing knowledge transfer with international players currently in Indonesia – the government will ensure this process is well facilitated.

on the other hand Protection of digital rights is also highlighted in Ganjar-Mahfud MD's vision and mission, this is embodied in data protection and cyber security regulations. This includes embracing experts in the field of digital security and forensics to work more closely with the government to secure the national cyber space.

"Lots unicorn whose money actually ends up in Singapore, this is what we want to change, so that Indonesia is more digitally sovereign. This can only be supported by good regulations and a stable political climate, and Ganjar-Mahfud MD has prepared this, one of which is by planning to provide fiscal incentives and encourage more local companies [BUMN and large corporations] to actively invest in startups and "involving startups in many strategic government projects," explained Sofian.

Apart from that, in terms of implementation in society, one thing we want to pursue is encouraging more payments cashless. When this system is widely amplified, there will be an acceleration of transactions and the economy, encouraging people to be more creative in producing products, expanding market share, and becoming stepping stone which is interesting for Indonesia Gold 2045.

Help open international markets

Ganjar-Mahfud MD sees that the local digital economy has even greater potential, this is judged by the large number of potential local businesses that can be expanded into the regional and global realms. The Ganjar-Mahfud MD government will later want to encourage more international cooperation to open up these opportunities more widely --- for example, strengthening bilateral cooperation between institutions [finance, agriculture, etc.] so that innovations from Indonesia can be marketed there.

Sofian gave an example, the cooperation formed could be like the Indonesia-Singapore partnership through Block71, which is there sharing knowledge, opening shared markets, and collaborative innovation. Including inviting more developers to show off at various prestigious international events in the technology sector.

“So it opens up and connects with the global ecosystem, while still protecting the ecosystem in Indonesia. The policy will not make it too difficult for those from outside to enter, but ensure that local ones can have a competitive edge. "Investment will also continue to be deepened, by providing more diverse funding options for industrial players," said Sofian.

Sofian continued, "Mr Ganjar understands very well that the digital economy is not only physical, but also non-physical. So we want to instill mindset that digital solutions from the start must be able to have a target to serve the global market."

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Disclosure: This article is part of a series covering the 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election which covers each candidate's digital economic vision