Moeldoko Explains Indonesia's Challenge Towards A High-Income Country 2045

Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko. (Ist)

JAKARTA - Presidential Chief of Staff (KSP) Moeldoko, highlighted two major challenges for Indonesia towards high-income countries in 2045. He mentioned the quality of human resources (HR) and employment.

Moeldoko said that currently the quality of Indonesian human resources is still far from expectations. This can be seen from the achievements of the Human Resources Index or Human Capital Index (HCI) and the Human Development Index Index Index (HDI).

For information, Indonesia's Human Resources Index (HCI) in 2022 is ranked 96 out of 174 countries. Meanwhile, the Human Development Index (HDI) in 2023, Indonesia is ranked 114 out of 189 countries.

"Not to mention our competitiveness index is still low. This is a challenge that must be answered immediately so that we can achieve high income country by 2045," said Moeldoko when giving a public lecture at Tarumanegara University (Untar), Jakarta, Tuesday, March 19.

Moeldoko explained that the government has prepared a long-term strategy to prepare Indonesia for the era of demographic bonuses and global disruption, namely by investing in the education sector, skills training, health, to preparing innovation infrastructure.

"For example, in the education sector, the government has disbursed a very large budget for the KIP and KIP Lecture programs. Likewise in the health sector there is KIS," he said.

The 2013-2015 TNI Commander also touched on employment issues. He said that currently employment in Indonesia is faced with two problems. Namely, the high number of young people (age 15-24 years) who are not studying, working, or participating in training (23.22 percent in 2022), and the mismatch of skills between the needs of the market and the workforce.

The discrepancy in skills between market needs and labor, continued Moeldoko, causes the unemployment rate for high school and Diploma graduates to remain high. Even 5.59 percent of university graduates are unemployed," he said.

According to him, labor productivity is one of the keys for Indonesia Gold 2045. For this reason, the government has accelerated the implementation of vocational education and training, strengthening reskilling and upskilling training, and integrating soft skills for the workforce to anticipate disruption. One of the implementations is through the pre-employment card program," he said.

On that occasion, Moeldoko emphasized that President Joko Widodo had built foundations and roadmaps to make Indonesia a high-income country by 2045.

First, human resource development. Second, continue infrastructure development. Third, regulatory reform through the Job Creation Act. Fourth, bureaucratic reform, and fifth, economic transformation through downstreaming.

The five directives of President Jokowi became the foundation for bringing Indonesia out of the middle income trap in 2036. Don't let our fate be the same as Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, which are unable to get out of the middle income trap. Don't let it, don't let it," he said.