Leontinus Alpha Edison Explains the Digital Economy Vision of the "AMIN" Couple

DailySocial.id had the opportunity to exclusively interview Tokopedia Co-Founder Leontinus Alpha Edison who is currently also Co-Captain in the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar Winning National Team (AMIN National Team). The main discussion in this session was dissecting the AMIN team's vision and mission in Indonesia's digital economy.

Starting the conversation, Leon explained two reasons why he finally decided to join the AMIN National Team. First, he feels in line with Anies Baswedan and Muhaimin Iskandar in relation to principle of equality, about creating a just and prosperous Indonesian society for all groups.

"This is in line with the principles and philosophy that I believed in when building Tokopedia with William (Tanuwijaya). We want to strive for equality in Tokopedia, so far we have succeeded in achievingcover 99% of sub-districts throughout Indonesia [...] Imagine if Yago's defensive effort "This equalization is not only carried out in companies, but on a larger scale at the country level, I am sure the impact will be more massive and widespread," said Leon.

Second, the collaborative principle is always upheld. Even though it is very philosophical, this is considered to be in line with what is stated in Tokopedia, where everything can be as big as it is now because of collaboration. He gave an example, when he founded Tokopedia he collaborated with William as co-founder, after Tokopedia had to partner with merchant, then for smooth transactions you have to partner with banks or other financial institutions, and even collaborate with regulators to encourage more MSMEs go-digital.

Leon felt this spirit of collaboration when working with the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government, led by Anies Baswedan. Through the Plus Jakarta initiative that he participated in, he really saw the process of collaboration between stakeholders in advancing MSMEs until they were successfully digitalized and saw firsthand the impact of their development.

A view of the digital ecosystem

Leon sees that currently digitalization has begun to change mindset, from a centralized to a distributed economy. He gave an example, currently there are many startups that accommodate various needs at various levels of society --- quite a few have even gained significant development from there, Tokopedia is one of them.

“The key to the digital economy is a spirit of collaboration. "What happens is that there are a lot of people (MSME actors) in small towns who don't have the time and resources of corporations, because of digitalization and collaboration, their businesses can now reach the same potential consumers but with existing resources," said Leon.

The digital economy is also becoming increasingly important now Indonesia has become a major market and major investment destination in Southeast Asia. Proven by many use case digitalization that can be supported and get enthusiasm from the market, starting from the fields of empowering MSMEs, agriculture, fisheries, finance, and so on. Leon also believes that investor confidence is increasing, seen from the number of people exploring and providing funding for investors founders in Indonesia.

"I believe that the digital economy in Indonesia will open up economic equality, especially for small communities. There are quite a lot of startup friends who survived and shone during the Covid-19 pandemic while also supporting many economic actors to keep running. When Covid-19 subsided, this startup also did not back down, they were able to adapt and finally were able to continue until now [...] With everything up and downits, Indonesia's digital ecosystem is still going strong, said Leon.

The biggest challenge in the digital economy

Infrastructure is considered to still be a fundamental challenger when Indonesia wants to improve its digital economy. This problem once again lies in equality. In big cities, internet quality is very decent, while in 3T areas connectivity is difficult and expensive.

The second challenge according to Leon is availability of qualified digital talent. Efforts need to be made to direct and support interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to produce more experts in the field of digital technology. And the availability of this talent must also be ensured that it is not only concentrated in big cities.

Regarding STEM education, according to the AMIN team, efforts need to be improved from upstream to downstream. So improving the quality of the education system must be a concern, one of the most important things to do now is improving the quality and welfare of teachers. The government needs to accommodate the program upskilling for teachers, in order to produce the best graduates in their fields.

"Talking about education, we know that Indonesia is very academic. So what must be done is to improve character education, one of which is to prepare people to be more independent --- such as by instilling character long life learner, critical thinking, problem solving [...] From here on, they will personally have the will to explore, because their character has been developed," explained Leon.

Regarding this talent, Leon also said that strengthening vocational education that leads to STEM also needs to be improved. The results are considered to accelerate digitalization at various levels.

The third issue mentioned is related cyber security (cybersecurity). This is about the government's policies and ability to formulate data security regulations, privacy protection, as well as ensuring the digital ecosystem is a safe place for all levels of society.

And the last problem that was also touched upon was support from the government. The government is considered to have to be quicker and more alert to the latest trends, so that the regulatory process can also be as fast and efficient as possible agile like innovators. It is understood that the government sometimes cannot immediately know all the issues in the field, so this challenge can only be solved by establishing intense collaboration with various parties.

A more inclusive digital economy

Apart from strengthening infrastructure, ensuring the internet can be accessed by all groups and used properly, what the AMIN team wants to promote is digital transformation. This transformation will begin with increase awareness of the importance of digitalization from the internal side of the government. Starting from public services that can be bettermonitor so that it can always be monitored and can be improved. Mindset This digital transformation will be embedded throughout all levels of government.

Then the AMIN government will also want to encourage comprehensive digital transformation at all levels of business. Including encourage various large local corporations not to be complacent "Business as usual", but must be sensitive to the dynamics that exist in the market. This includes encouraging digitalization for micro businesses, such as teaching farmers to use weather applications to get a more comprehensive picture.

"To be more inclusive, the important mantra is collaboration. I learned a lot from the AMIN team, one of the suggestions I have heard is that the government is also changing, this is related to the government's principles in managing Indonesia. In the past, the government had the impression of being the rower and the main actor in a boat . But as time goes by the government becomes the driver, who is behind (stakeholder others) are rowing. Basically there must be Yago's defensive effort from the government, but as wide as possible for all groups to take part in collaboration," said Leon.

Tactical strategy

Leon stated that if AMIN was entrusted as President and Vice President, they would realize that leadership did not mean having absolute knowledge. Therefore, in designing future regulations, they will adopt principle-based policies that involve stakeholders, avoid impulsive decisions, and reduce regulations that are too detailed so as not to hinder execution. Even though it sounds simple, its implementation requires a commitment to changing our collective mindset.

So that the investment climate in the digital economy continues to flow, what AMIN will strive for is ensuring regulations are easy and provide legal certainty. This must also be supported by the availability of adequate local resources (including talent, one of them), so that Indonesia can provide more selling value to these investors.

“We must continue to encourage more qualified startup founders. Not just cheating from outside, but also really being able to solve problems [...] My dream is that in the next five years, many founders will develop and more startups will IPO. "For me, this is realistic to be realized," said Leon.

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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