Editorial: Education Is Key to Indonesia's Growth
Gita Wirjawan is an optimist. Where others see threats, the trade minister sees opportunities. Where others see challenges too difficult to overcome, he sees new possibilities.
It thus comes as no surprise that the minister is confident that Indonesia has the capacity to compete and succeed in an open regional economic environment. His confidence is based on the country's potential as a consumer market and the capacity of its human resources.
He is, however, also realistic and understands that unless certain policies and medium-term plans are executed, Indonesia's potential will remain unfulfilled.
The game changer, he says, is education. We agree with him wholeheartedly.
"Unfortunately, the picture right now is very daunting. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, there are more than 2,000 students from mainland China, and only 11 from Indonesia. How are we going to compete?" he asked.
In 2013, the government has allocated Rp 287 trillion ($30 billion) for education — 20 percent of the state budget. With this much money, the country can well afford to send more promising students abroad to study at top universities around the world.
The money can also be utilized to improve the quality of local universities and thus allow more Indonesians to study at these institutions. Such planning will produce visionary leaders and entrepreneurs with the ability to create future industries.
If the country can fix its education system and produce qualified graduates, it need not fear opening up its economy as part of the Asean Economic Community.
As Gita notes, what Indonesia needs is to improve its production capacity so it is not overly dependent on its consumer market. The challenge is to bridge the supply of goods with the demand.
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