Megawati Talks About Colonialization: Meriam Used To Be And Warships, Now Data And Algorithms

JAKARTA - The 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia Megawati Soekarnoputri reminded that the international world of colonialism has not ended but has only changed faces.

This warning was conveyed when delivering a speech at the 70th Anniversary of the Asian Conference (KAA) at the Bung Karno Museum, Blitar, East Java today, Saturday, November 1. Now data and algorithms can become new colonial tools.

"If in the past the occupation came with cannons and warships, then now it has come through algorithms and data," Megawati said in front of academics from 32 countries.

Megawati said that Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, and the cross-border digital financial system have now given birth to a new form of global imperialism. Because developed countries are the owners and controllers of data while negata is developing, they are only users of algorithms that they are not good at.

"Humans are reduced to numbers, data becomes a commodity," said the General Chairperson of the PDI-P (PDIP).

Megawati's statement is based on a number of international research, including the 2024 UNCTAD Digital Economy Report. It is explained that 70 percent of the world's data is now controlled by a handful of global technology giants such as Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, most of which are based in the United States and Europe.

Meanwhile, developing countries such as Indonesia are the market as well as a supplier of data without full sovereignty over its infrastructure. Media reports found that most cloud services and government databases still depend on foreign providers, posing a risk of leakage and strategic dependence.

Megawati said that this digital challenge is not just an economic problem, but a matter of humanity and national sovereignty. He assessed that without controlling technology and data, true independence is difficult to achieve.

"The world needs a new global ethics a new global moral rule to reorganize power in the realm of technology, economy, and information," said Megawati.

"We need moral courage as Bung Karno has shown. The world now needs new regulations so that technology does not become a tool for suppression of new forms," he continued.

This regulation, said Megawati, could take from Pancasila. This is because the value in it is a universal philosophy that balances the world of materials and spirituality, individual rights and social responsibility, as well as national sovereignty and solidarity between nations.

In addition, Megawati reminded that technological advances must be framed in humanitarian ethics. A world that is not regulated by algorithms without conscience, but by Pancasila values that glorify life," she concluded.