In the past three years, I have attended various forums run by the government agencies, such as TNP2K (National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction), KSP (Presidential Staff Office), BAPPENAS (Ministry of National Development Planning) to discuss a wide range of strategic issues that Indonesians have to face, such as poverty alleviation, social disparities, communicable and non-communicable disease, etc.
The government attempts to engage actors from both civil society and private sectors to succeed in the government’s objective of development. Private sector organizations are expected to contribute to the Indonesian development plan by financing some projects, such as stimulating economic growth, empowering communities, increasing community-based skill and capacity.
The government’s attempt to engage the private sector to accelerate development projects, as far as I am concerned, runs quite well, but not yet enormous. Some private companies have shown their commitment to supporting projects such as combating stunting, providing dwellings in disaster-affected spots, promoting health care, narrowing social disparities, etc. However, there is also a strategic issue that can be included in the private companies’ framework, scientific research.
Indonesia, is no doubt, a large country that is still facing the problems of academic and scientific capacities, to compare with at least some countries in Asia, such as Japan, China, Singapore, and even Thailand and Malaysia. Even though Indonesia has many intelligent and innovative scholars, their scientific projects are very often not sufficiently financed either by the government or private universities.
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the number of researchers per million inhabitants in Indonesia is only 89, consisting 69 male researchers and 31% female researchers. 2, 029 researchers in Malaysia, 964 in Thailand, 673 in Vietnam, and 283 in Brunei Darussalam, and 187 in the Philippines per million inhabitants.
Likewise, the budget provided by the government for research is not as much as our neighboring countries. Thus, Indonesia should again witness the decline of its competitiveness, ranked 50th in 2019, lower than in 2014 (34th), 2015 (37th), 2016 (41st), 2017 (36th), and 2018 (45th) as reported in the Global Competitiveness Report.
While Indonesia is struggling to escape from the budget constraint for research, it is necessary to discover a strategic way out by, among other things, optimizing the private sector contribution and Indonesian philanthropists.
The private sector contribution reaches only about 20% of Indonesia’s research spending (The Jakarta Post, February 18, 2019). At the same time, Indonesian researchers are urged to produce high-level research findings and make advanced scientific innovations.
The improvement of scientific quality among Indonesian researchers may need systematic schemes beyond the state budget framework. While Indonesian is just recently labeled as the world’s most generous country, the projection of its generosity may help the country to define its future competitiveness trajectory.
Some ‘giant’ Indonesian philanthropists are renowned for their contribution to the Indonesian development vision. Indonesia’s Philanthropy Award was given to some Indonesian philanthropists who are believed to have contributed to support various aspects, such as humanitarian, leadership, agriculture, village development, women empowerment, health and education programs, etc.
Nonetheless, research funding schemes offered by Indonesian philanthropists are far from sufficient to compare with the ‘homework’ that should be accomplished by Indonesian researchers.
Indonesian strategic research plan formulated by the Ministry of Research and Higher Education (now the Ministry of education) shows the diversity of strategic research themes such as Indonesian biodiversity, agriculture, drug, transportation, information technology, maritime, defense and security, disaster management, etc.
It may be worth to reconcile the philanthropists’ generosity with the vibrant engagement of research centers in advancing scientific discoveries in Indonesia, both in natural and social (humanities) sciences. The Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI) and Indonesian Young Academy of Sciences (ALMI), two semi-autonomous interdisciplinary scientific associations, have attempted to translate the government’s vision of technology and scientific development through its publication entitled Sciences for Indonesia’s Biodiversity.
This publication is not only enriching the perspective of Indonesian researchers and academia but also envisioning how Indonesia would look like in 2045 when the Indonesian nation celebrates the centennial commemoration of its Independence.
The attachment of Indonesia’s leading philanthropist to the education sector, in general, is to begin. In the past two decades, we have witnessed the establishment of schools and universities by Indonesia tycoons and wealthiest people.
Their contribution to—and engagement with—scientific issues may shape the pattern of scientific ecosystem and technology architecture created by Indonesian scientists in the future.
Nanotechnology, nuclear, biodiversity, pluralism, ethnic diversity, tuberculosis, stunting, peace, and disaster management are among examples of research themes that can be supported by Indonesian philanthropists.
Indonesian philanthropists may energize and finance long-term and measurable strategic scientific and research projects in line with the needs of Indonesian society in the future.
It would be wonderful if the names of leading Indonesian philanthropists are carved in Indonesian history, not only because of their generosity but also due to their contribution to the scientific sustainability of this nation in achieving the Golden Indonesia 2045.
*The writer is a board member of the Indonesian Young Academy of Sciences–ALMI, and a Lecturer at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. He can be reached at [email protected]