Attending ICHSS PresUniv Event, Airlangga: Demographic Bonus Is The Key To Indonesia's Growth

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hatarto (Photo: Screenshot)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said that the handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia continues to improve. This is as the number of new positive cases of COVID-19 continues to decline.

"The average case, in seven days there are less than 1,000 cases," said Airlangga while attending the International Conference on Humanities and Social Science (ICHSS) held by the Faculty of Humanities President University (PresUniv) quoted Wednesday, October 27.

Airlangga emphasized that the reduced number of cases was open because the government had reduced the number of tests. He said the number of tests was never reduced. According to Airlangga, there are three strategies implemented by the government in dealing with COVID-19 cases,

"That is detection, behavior change, and vaccination. At the detection stage, the government increases screening and epidemiological tests, as well as contact tracing. Not only that, the government also carries out genomic surveillance, strict quarantine, and mandatory PCR," he said.

The handling of COVID-19 that went well, he said, had a positive impact on economic performance. In the second quarter of 2021, Indonesia managed to achieve the highest economic growth in the last 16 years, namely, 7.1 percent.

In this event, Airlangga said, the real challenge is Indonesia's demographics, which are mostly from Generation Z and millennials who are digitally literate. This demographic bonus must be utilized as well as possible.

“This is certainly a challenge for PresUniv. This demographic bonus is the key to Indonesia's future growth," said Airlangga. Meanwhile, Chairman of the President's University Education Foundation (YPUP) Budi Susilo Soepandji said the COVID-19 pandemic had made changes in people's lives. Currently, community interaction is not carried out directly.

To deal with this, real contributions from all sectors, including the scientific field, are needed. For this reason, he encourages the humanities to collaborate with other fields to answer the challenge.

"In a broader context, this raises fundamental questions about what contribution the Humanities Sciences can make to respond to the current situation," he said.

For that, he hopes that through this conference the global academic community from International Relations, Legal Studies, Communication Studies, Education, and Biodiversity can share valuable views and knowledge to survive in the current conditions.

"I believe that if we share the same hope, this conference will contribute to improving research and practice in the Humanities," said Budi.

The theme of the ICHSS event is "The Opportunities of Crisis: International Experiences and Best Practices in the Time of Covid-19 and Beyond in Society 5.0".

There were five sub-themes discussed at this conference, namely International Relations and Other Social & Cultural Issues, Communication Science, Law, Education, and Biodiversity.