Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, said that investment in human resource quality must continue to be bolstered so that Indonesia can become a developed country by 2045.
He explained here on Thursday that to achieve Golden Indonesia, transforming low-added value to higher-added value activities is a must.
To support this, the government is promoting various programs, including the Pre-Employment Card (PraKerja) Program, to increase the country’s human resource quality.
The program aims to optimize the demographic bonus potential by providing training to the community with a digital end-to-end approach and pushing for public-private partnerships (PPP).
PraKerja was initiated in 2020, and the total number of registrants in its fifth year reached more than 56 million. Eighteen million participants from 38 provinces have benefitted from the program.
To become an advanced country, Indonesia needs to increase its income per capita to US$29 thousand, Minister Hartarto added.
Jakarta’s per capita income is currently US$21 thousand, while in East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan, it has topped US$17 thousand, he noted.
“We also mapped out (the situation in) other regions, and we carried out this during the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation handling. What distinguishes Indonesia from other countries: we have practical solutions that other countries do not have,” he said.
He explained that to control inflation in food prices, the government is distributing food from producer areas to demand areas, managing freight and warehousing.
He also called for increasing college students’ skills and providing access to people who have limited funding for education.
Earlier, Minister of Law and Human Rights, Yasonna Laoly, said that creating quality human resources requires providing quality education that not only teaches theory, but also technical and practical skills.
Quality education can produce graduates who are creative, innovative, and able to adapt to changes in technology and the environment, he added.