E-COMMERCE MILESTONE

Posted by AsiaViews | Feb 25, 2018 | 0 |

INDONESIA

The Jakarta Post -Feb 19

Owing to their speedy growth, Indonesian start-ups have unsurprisingly grabbed the attention of both foreign and local investors. The latest positive development came last week when widely diversified Indonesian conglomerate, Astra International, announced an investment of Rp 2 trillion (US$150 million) in local start-up Go-Jek, one of the country’s four unicorns.

Astra’s move extends the list of giant companies investing in Go-Jek, which include tech titan Google, Singapore’s Temasek and China’s Meituan-Dianping. Next in line will be Djarum Group subsidiary PT Global Digital Niaga (GDN), the owner of major e-commerce platform Blibli. com, although it has yet to reveal the amount of its investment and when the corporate action will take place.

Indonesia’s e-commerce business has been steadily robust in the last few years. According to start-up data provider Startup Ranking, there are now more than 1,700 start-up companies operating a wide range of businesses, such as ride-hailing services, retail and payment gateways here. Only the United Kingdom, India and the United States have more start-up companies than Indonesia.

Not only is Indonesia home to the world’s fourth-largest number of start-up firms, it also has given birth to four unicorns or e-commerce companies with a valuation of at least $1 billion, namely Go-Jek, Tokopedia, Bukalapak and Traveloka.

The country’s e-commerce market has continued to grow, but it is foreign investors, rather than local ones, that have seized the opportunities the start-up companies have offered. As in the case of the four Indonesian unicorns, investors from the US, China, Hong Kong and Singapore are behind them.

Therefore, Astra’s and Djarum’s investment in Go-Jek marked a breakthrough in the country’s e-commerce business. Regardless of the value of their investment, their stride into digital commerce is considered an important headway that could generate a bandwagon effect.

E-commerce is mushrooming as the world, including Indonesia, is going digital. More tech start-ups will emerge and grow unhindered. They have disrupted — and many believe sooner or later they will take over — the conventional market. In certain industries such as the media, digitalization devours traditional players.

The government’s support for e-commerce is heartening, but it has not done enough. Despite the rapid growth of e-commerce, the government is acting more as a regulator than facilitator. Such a change in mindset is imperative so as to provide a more favorable ecosystem for start-ups to flourish.

To say the least, the government’s commitment to developing the country as a regional power in the digital economy remains halfhearted, as evident in the ongoing controversy surrounding a transportation ministerial decree on ride-hailing apps.

There are many regulations that need revision, as they could potentially hamper the digital economy. Regulations matter, simply to make sure customers are well protected.

(First published in The Jakarta Post – http://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2018/02/19/editorial-e-commerce-milestone.html)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

E-COMMERCE MILESTONE