JAKARTA – Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Abdullah Azwar Anas appears before President Joko Widodo at the State Palace, Jakarta, Friday (29/12), to report on the acceleration of the preparation of a government digital team aka GovTech to integrate national digital services.
Anas said that the president had just signed Presidential Regulation No. 82/2023 on Accelerating Digital Transformation and Integration of National Digital Services. It regulates the acceleration of Government Technology (GovTech).
“Today, as the coordinator of the Electronic-Based Government System (EBGS) team, we report to the President about the acceleration of GovTech preparation,” he said.
“For the first time in history since Indonesia’s independence, Indonesia will be in the process of having integrated digital services, not separated as it has been, one service, with good interoperability, and oriented to user/citizen centric as in benchmark countries,” he continued.
Anas said that in the top 20 countries with e-Government Development Index (EDGI), almost all of them have a government digital team, aka GovTech, which is tasked with integrating all digital services and creating a standardized government digitalisation ecosystem.
The GovTech carries out the policy outline of the ministry in charge of digitisation, which in the Indonesian context is the EBGS Coordination Team that includes the Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, Minister of Communication and Information, Minister of Finance, Minister of National Development Planning/Head of National Development Planning Agency, and Minister of Home Affairs.
In the UK for example, he continued, the GovTech is called the Government Digital Service; and the enabling ministry is the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO). They integrate digital services through only one access, that is through the Gov.UK platform.
GovTech is what guides the integration of digital services. Some countries used to have hundreds to thousands of public service applications, now they only have a dozen and even one service portal.
Minister Anas said that Indonesian people are currently faced with a variety of digital services from the government.
“In Indonesia, so far it is still separated. If you want to access service A, then download the Ministry A’s application. If you want to access service B, then you have to download application B,” he said.
“Repeated data entry, no good data interoperability–it is difficult for users. This is what the president wants so that everything is simple and makes it easier for the people.
“Through GovTech, this will no longer happen in the future because it will be put together so that it no longer overlaps,” said the former head of the National Public Procurement Agency (LKPP).
The GovTech assignment, Anas explained, was given to The Money-printing Public Corporation of the Republic of Indonesia.
GovTech will focus on integrating priority digital systems and applications that prioritise the needs of the community.
“GovTech will not take over, but rather support the agency in charge of the service as well as guarantee the sustainability of government digitalisation,” Anas said.
The running of GovTech has been supported by various policy foundations, including the Presidential Regulation on EBGS, Presidential Regulation on EBGS Architecture, Presidential Regulation on One Data Indonesia, and the Personal Data Protection Law.
In addition, there is also a governance foundation through the National EBGS Coordination Team and the National EBGS Architecture.
The implementation of GovTech is expected to improve Indonesia’s e-Government Development Index (EGDI) ranking.
He explained that the 20 countries with the best EGDI rankings have GovTech as the foundation in improving government services and accelerating national development.
“Indonesia’s EGDI ranking has risen from 103 to 88, and is now ranked 77. We believe that with GovTech, Indonesia’s EGDI ranking will rise because there will be transformation and acceleration in the integration of government services,” Anas said.
