AI is Getting Wider, DPD Asks the State to Guard Data Sovereignty

Chairman of the DPD RI Sultan B Najamuddin. (Photo: Presidential Media Staff)

JAKARTA - The Chairman of the Indonesian DPD, Sultan Bachtiar Najamudin, asked the country to maintain data sovereignty amid the increasing use of digital technology and artificial intelligence or AI.

According to the Sultan, Indonesia's digital transformation must be accelerated, but it is not enough just to expand the use of technology.

"As a strategic asset, data sovereignty must be maintained by the state," said the Sultan in the Annual Meeting of the MPR and Joint Meeting of the DPR and DPD at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Friday, August 14.

He said that accelerating digital transformation needs to include strengthening internet infrastructure, increasing digital literacy, implementing smart government, using AI, and data protection.

The Sultan placed the issue in a series of development challenges that must be answered by the central and regional governments.

DPD, according to the Sultan, has 152 members from 38 provinces representing almost 80 million regional people's votes.

Therefore, digital development must also reach areas outside the economic centers.

The Sultan emphasized that every national development agenda must be felt down to the district, city, sub-district, village, small island, outermost and lagging regions, as well as border areas.

In his speech, the Sultan also touched on new and renewable energy, waste management, space arrangement, forest fires, as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation.

All of these issues, according to the Sultan, are part of what DPD needs to monitor in the implementation of national and regional development.