Prepare For Breakthrough Out Of The Box Special Staff For Jokowi's Millennials

Photo of President Joko Widodo with his seven young special staff (doc. Setkab)

JAKARTA - Political observer from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Dini Suryani, said that the election of young people as special staff (Stafsus) to the president was the answer to Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) campaign promise. Jokowi has often mentioned the involvement of young people in his government.

The seven staff members introduced by Jokowi; Putri Indahsari Tanjung, Adamas Belva Syah Devara, Andi Taufan Garuda, Gracia Billy Mambrasar, Ayu Kartika Dewi, Angkie Yudistia, and Aminuddin Maruf, are on average 30 years old. They have a task that is somewhat out of the box, providing breakthroughs and innovations in managing the country.

"Whether their presence has an impact on the policies made by the president or is it just 'just' there, but the president's policies that are implemented come from those same people again," said Dini when contacted by VOI via text message, Friday, November 22 .

Apart from new ideas, young people and millennials who sit as special staff must have out of the box ideas. Dini gave an example, these young people should be able to have a breakthrough, like the former Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) Susi Pudjiastuti.

"We can see from yesterday's experience that Mrs. Susi Pudjiastuti is no longer serving in the cabinet, even though her performance is very good and full of new breakthroughs," he said.

The advancement of young people as special staff is also considered a challenge in itself. Because, usually young people also have many new breakthroughs and are often out of the box which often run into political interests.

"Here is the stakes. Will the staff who will be full of ideas out of the box will be accommodated in the form of policies, or just a sweetener?" he said.

Although still skeptical about the inclusion of young people and millennials in the Presidential Palace, President Jokowi's efforts to accommodate the voices of youth in the cabinet need to be appreciated. Moreover, those appointed have more attention related to various serious issues in this country such as the issue of economic empowerment, the issue of disability and the issue of Papua.

The issue of electability of youth and millennials as fulfillment of campaign promises was also mentioned by a political observer from Al-Azhar University, Ujang Komarudin. He said Jokowi was trying to keep his promises to young people and millennials.

There is nothing wrong, because according to Ujang, Jokowi should have recruited young people as staff especially to keep up with the times. "Because this is the millennial era, so special staff must also be millennial," he said.

However, Ujang reminded them that they might still have poor experience in the field of government because they are still quite young. "So you have to learn a lot," he said.

Said the Youth Party

As a youth party, PSI Spokesperson, Dedek Prayudi, said that the election of special ministerial staff from youth and millennials is good news for his party. Uki, as he is usually called, said Jokowi was committed to paying attention to big issues among young people.

He also responded to the election of a PSI cadre as one of the ministers, namely Dini Shanti Purwono. He said, Uki was not surprised to find out that Dini was chosen by Jokowi to become an expert staff. "Happy but no wonder," said Uki.

Early appointment is considered appropriate considering his capacity as a person who has more attention to legal issues. "I know the capacity of Dini Sis. It is very appropriate," he concluded.

As is known, these seven special staff have their respective fields, from the creative sector, education, to financial technology. There are also youth from Papua to people with disabilities.

In addition, there are two other expert staff from politicians, namely PSI Dini Shanti Purwono and PDI-P politician Arief Budimanta. However, both of them were not introduced at that time because they were not included in the millennial generation.

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After President Joko Widodo introduced his newest Presidential Special Staff, then each of them answered some of the journalists' questions. President Joko Widodo has just hoped that the 7 new Presidential Special Staff who will help the President's performance can become a bridge for young people, with new ideas.

A post shared by Cabinet Secretariat (sekretariat.kabinet) on Nov 21, 2019 at 4:00 am PST

Following are the profiles of the seven special Jokowi millennial staff:

1. Adamas Belva Syah Devara (Belva) is the young founder of the Guru Room. This man was born in Jakarta, May 30, 1990, which means he is only 29 years old at this time.

Belva's educational background, he does not play with him taking a double degree to study business and computer science at Nanyang University, Singapore. Belva then continued his education at Stanford University, California, USA, in 2013-2015.

He won an MBA (Master of Business Administration). As well, he also won the MPA (Master of Public Administration) degree from Harvard University in 2014-2016. He was also cross-registered with the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 2015.

In July 2014, he and Muhammad Iman Usman founded a startup company called Ruang Guru. This company then developed into the leading learning application in Indonesia. The startup company has also received a number of awards, from within and outside the country.

2. Putri Indahsari Tanjung was born on September 22, 1996. Now she is 23 years old. She is the eldest daughter of national businessman Chairul Tanjung.

Putri is the CEO of Creativepreneur Event Creator, an event organizer company that she founded in December 2011. According to her website, Creativepreneur Event Creator aims to organize events that both entertain and inspire young people.

Judging from her LinkedIn profile, Putri studied at Anglo-Chinese Jakarta (2006-2011). He continued his education at the Australian International School Singapore (2012-2014). He earned a bachelor's degree from the Academy of Art University, majoring in Multimedia Communication, San Francisco, USA (2015-2019).

3. Andi Taufan Garuda Putra, who was born on January 24, 1987, is known through the microfinance institution he pioneered named, Amartha. Andi is an alumnus of ITB Business Management in 2008.

He also worked for a multinational company, IBM. After two years of working for Andi, he decided to resign and establish Amartha which focuses on modern financial institutions to help the middle and lower income groups in obtaining financial assistance.

Andi also continued his higher education at Harvard Kennedy School (2015-2016). From that campus in the United States, he earned a Master of Public Administration degree.

4. Ayu Kartika Dewi, a woman born in Banjarmasin, is the founder of the SabangMerauke Movement. Ayu has been involved in the Indonesia Teaching program, which was initiated by Anies Baswedan when he was Minister of Education and Culture.

Ayu is the first batch of the Indonesia Teaching program and is assigned to teach at elementary schools in North Maluku. In 2013, Ayu then founded SabangMerauke, an inter-regional student exchange program in Indonesia to instill values of tolerance, education and Indonesianness.

Investigating her educational background, Ayu received a Fulbright scholarship to continue her studies at Duke University, United States. After winning an MBA from Duke University. Ayu also worked as a staff for the Governor of DKI Jakarta when Basuki Tjahja Purnama took office in 2015.

5. Gracia Billy Mambrasar, 30 years old from Serui, Yapen Islands, Papuan is an ambassador for Indonesia's sustainable development. This social entrepreneur, in fact, participated in an audition for singing content, Indonesian Idol 2006.

Reported by Antara, Gracia Billy Yosaphat Y Mambrasar comes from a poor family. His father was an indeterminate salary teacher. His mother was selling cakes at the market. However, Billy's education was helped because since high school he received a scholarship from the Papua Provincial Government.

Billy continued his education at the Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, ITB. After graduating from college, he worked for a British-owned oil company, until finally resigned and founded the Kitong Bisa foundation to help educate underprivileged Papuan children.

Billy also won a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The Australian National University (2013-2014). He also won a Master of Science (MSc) degree with a thesis of social sustainability in LNG projects.

6. Angkie Yudistia, is a disabled youth who is the CEO of Thisable Enterprise. The focus is on a social mission, helping people with disabilities.

Angkie is a graduate majoring in advertising at the London School of Public Relations (LSPR), Jakarta. He earned a master's degree in marketing communications from the same college.

Although she has a disability, Angkie was once the Indonesian ambassador at the Asia-Pacific Development Center of Disability, 2010. She also wrote a book entitled 'Invaluable Experience to Pursue Dream' (Deaf Women Penetrating Boundaries).

7. Aminuddin Ma'ruf, a young man who was born on July 27, 1986, is the former Chairman of the Indonesian Islamic Student Movement (PMII) Executive Board for the 2014-2016 period. Aminuddin is an alumnus from the State University of Jakarta, he is also continuing his master's education at Trisakti University, Jakarta.

After not becoming the Chairman of PB PMII, Aminuddin Ma'ruf was once the Secretary General of Jokowi's Young Ulama Solidarity (Samawi), and a volunteer to support Jokowi-Ma'ruf in the 2019 Presidential Election.