Inauguration of Prof Ford Lumban Gaol

Prof Ford Lumban Gaol was the Vice Chair when I serves as the Chairman of the IEEE Indonesia Section 2013-2015. He & I also co-lead the IEEE Tensymp 2016 in Bali. Then he experienced a lot as a visiting lecture in Russia and Japan. But today, we celebrate his inauguration as a Professor of Computer Science at the Binus University.

Dr Agnes, Prof Ford, Yours Truly — a reunion of 2013’s cabinet of the IEEE Indonesia Section

The inauguration was led by the Rector of Binus University, Dr. Nelly; and also attended by the Chair of the Senate Prof Harjanto Prabowo. Prof Harjanto mentioned that Prof Ford is the one who established Doctorate Program in Computer Science at Binus University.

As usual, the IEEE gang, i.e. the members of the Advisory Board and Executive Committee plus some other IEEE volunteers attended this inauguration as a special participants. Attended today: Prof Endra, Prof Dadang, Dr Wahidin, Dr Agnes, Mr Satriyo, and surely yours truly.

Serendipitously, I also met Dr Indra Utoyo as one of the speech presented, representing a community in Big Data development.

Dr Indra presented the collaborative innovation in Big Data-focused digital development and its influence to the society.

The ceremony was carried out ½ day, and continued by informal meetings & photo sessions.

Batik Day

Batik Day a.k.a. Hari Batik Nasional is a national observance celebrated in Indonesia on October 2nd each year. The day is dedicated to celebrating the rich cultural heritage and artistry of batik, which is a traditional Indonesian fabric that is created using a wax-resistant dyeing technique. Batik has a long history in Indonesia and holds significant cultural and artistic importance.

On Batik Day, people across Indonesia, including government officials, students, and the general population, including yours truly, often wear batik clothing to celebrate the cultural significance of this traditional art form.

Batik Day was officially designated as a national day in 2009, recognising the importance of batik as an integral part of Indonesia’s cultural heritage. This celebration not only honours the craftsmanship and creativity of batik artisans but also fosters a sense of national pride and unity in Indonesia.

Question: Why do I collect batik designed with the stylisation of birds, instead of other animals?
Anwer: Ravenclaw

BBI Prep for North Maluku

September 2022 edition of BBI will be carried out in North Maluku — a province surrounding Northern Moluccas islands. Northern Moluccas was once a central source of global trade even since the Roman era. But currently the economy of this area is not so significant comparing to other areas. With this BBI program, we intend to leverage the MSME economy in these islands.

The campaign manager of this program is The Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (Kemendesa PDTT). The leader for this program is Ms Harlina Sulistyorini, the DG of Economy Development & Investment.

Telkom will support this program by providing MSME build up program (in collaboration with BNI and other state-owned enterprises) integrated with digital business transformation for the MSME, and a virtual expo to display and promote curated MSME products.

TEMS Regional Leadership Meeting

TEMS — or the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society — is an IEEE society with a mission to advance, enhance, and improve essential management and leadership knowledge and skills of IEEE members.

The IEEE TEMS Regional Leaders Subcommittee carried out its 1st meeting this year today, with a new team. This meeting was led by Mohamed Aboud, the VP for Membership Development. The TEMS President, Ravikiran Annaswamy, addressed the meeting.

The meeting aims to leverage the program to leverage the TEMS activities in wider areas, and to improve collaborations among TEMS members in engineering management and leadership field. Our field of interest encompasses the management sciences and practices required for defining, implementing, and managing engineering and technology. Specific topics of interest include technology policy development, assessment, and transfer; research; product design and development; manufacturing operations; innovation and entrepreneurship; program and project management; strategy; education and training; organisational development and human behavior; transitioning to management; and the socioeconomic impact of engineering and technology management.

BBI Bukittinggi

Bukittinggi is a small historical and cultural city in West Sumatra province. It was once appointed as the provisional capital of Indonesia when the criminal armed forces of the Netherlands occupied Yogyakarta (i.e. also the provisional capital of Indonesia). The elegant city is located amidst Bukit Barisan mountain, just between Mt Marapi dan Mt Singgalang — giving it a perfect weather, at least for me.

Bukittinggi hosted BBI this month, organised by OJK. It was a special BBI event, since it was attended by the Vice President of Indonesia, and it hosted the launch of the awaited BBI Virtual Expo, designed and provided by Telkom.

The event was carried out at the courtyard of Jam Gadang — the famous clock tower of Bukittinggi.

P3DN Business Matching & SME Expo

In Nusa Dua area of Bali Island, the GoI carried out a business matching event for three days (22-24 March 2022) between Ministries, Govt Institutions, and Local Government on one side, and national industries and SME on the other side. This event also exhibited some national industry associations (organised by Ministry of Industry) and SME (organised by Ministry of Coop & SME).

I will write about the business matching some other time. But the exhibition itself is interesting. Here we displayed nationwide technology-focused entrepreneurs, scoping from weaponry simulation, health facility instruments, tools for agroindustry, and many others.

The Minister of Coop & SME, Mr Teten Masduki, personally visited and talked to the local entrepreneurs. He emphasise the importance of the local industry to improve the quality and production capacity to match the market demand. Also, for the platforms like PADI UMKM, he addressed that such system should be used as a gateway for SMEs to be listed at national industry catalogue to be linked to the market where Ministries etc are targeted to spend 500 trillion rupiah this year.

IMT-GT eCommerce Tech Planning

When I was in Kupang (May 25th), I was invited by the Coordinative Ministry of Economy (Kemko-Ekon) and Ministry of ICT to discuss the implementation of IMT-GT e-Commerce plan. I presented some options we might choose using PADI UMKM as a national hub connected to the IMT-GT Mall. But then the Government addressed us to propose PADI UMKM as the core platform of the IMT-GT e-Commerce program instead.

On the next IMT-GT JBC (Joint Business Council) Meeting (May 28th), we stated the proposal to take over the development and operation of IMT-GT core platform with some alternative business models. At that time, Thailand expressed their dissatisfaction on the business operation plan of the IMT-GT Mall from Malaysia. Also the CIMT (Centre of the IMT-GT Cooperation) mentioned that PADI UMKM has been in operation since last year, while IMT-GT Mall from Malaysia is still in development plan stage.

Today (June 4th) we continue the JBC Meeting with CIMT. Malaysia has stated their desire to maintain their role as IMT-GT e-Commerce hub as decided in 2019; and representing Indonesia, I have agreed to let them continue leading this program with this determined timeline. PADI UMKM will continue to support as the connection between Indonesia MSMEs and the IMT-GT Mall. I also proposed that the operation of each national hub will be independent, so each country may have different business models in designing the operation business of the e-Commerce program. For example, JBC Malaysia prefers that the operation will be carried out by private sector; while Indonesia prefers to use MSME ecosystem program. This result will be reported on the next Convergence Meeting, scheduled on July.

IMT-GT Strategic Planning — SWG ICT

Virtual Meeting on IMT-GT Strategic Planning Meeting (SPM) / Sub-Working Group on ICT was held today. The Standing Chairman of IMT-GT SWG on ICT is from Mme. Suhaila Yeop Johari (Communications Technology Division, Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia). I attended the meeting representing Telkom Indonesia as the platform owner of PADI UMKM — the platform chosen by the Indonesian Government for MSME exporting facility. The meeting was also attended by Mr. Iswarayuda Bayu Agutama (Head of Bilateral Division,Centre of International Affairs, MCI, Indonesia), Ms. Ishariyaporn Smiprem (Director of Regional Cooperation Group International Affairs Division, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, Thailand), and Mr. Firdaus Dahlan (Director of CIMT).

BBI for 2021

At this special BBI coordinative meeting, the Coordinative Minister of Maritime & Invesment reminded us that the program expansion to leverage the MSME & national product should be accelerated in 2021; and the programs would include the quality improvement for the MSME & their products. Some MSMEs must be leveraged to the class of artisans, whose products will have better quality than the industry comparisons.

Telkom, with its definitive role as the architect of the platform-based digital ecosystem for MSME business will expand the digital market for the MSME, including generating and promoting a wider market demand for the MSME products & services. Some horizontal and vertical integrations have been planned to ensure the MSME economy will be part of national development strategy; and some new services could be established, including financing, certification, quality improvement, export facilities, etc.

BBI Q4/2020

BBI (Bangga Buatan Indonesia) is a coordinative & collaborative programs to improve the economy and commercialisation of national products with special emphasis on MSME products, led by the Government of Indonesia — in this case the Coordinative Minister of Maritime and Investment (Menkomarves). Telkom is actively involved in this program via its MSME Digital Ecosystem programs, incl PADI UMKM and Rumah BUMN.

This year, some footholds have been established, including the BBI program itself, PADI UMKM & Bela Pengadaan, and some programs related to MSME in Creative Economy and Maritime & Fishery. For Telkom, the main role is to build, establish, and expand the platform-based digital ecosystem for MSME business, including their development and economic improvement.

The next thing to do is to build a context for integration among those separated systems and applications, to establish a real ecosystem supported with integrated information and platform, where all programs and activities could provide mutual support in leveraging different segments of MSMEs, including small and medium business in agriculture, fishery, forestry, creative industry, etc.