Thoughts from AUS: How Far Behind Indonesia Really Is?

UGM students for AUS

As I have been telling you in the previous post, Asian Undergraduate Summit brought up the theme of Disruptive Change. Disruptive change is basically new technologies and innovations that disrupt existing market. It was originally a business term, but today it can be applied more generally. Notable yet overused examples are the online transportation platform such as Uber and Grab (and Gojek in Indonesia), and other sharing-economy mechanism such as Airbnb. But actually, disruptive change includes a lot of pretty mindblowing technologies such as Internet of Things (how various objects can be automated interconnectedly using internet-like mechanism), Big Data (a bunch of data that can be used to analyze patterns and everything), automatization, Artificial Intelligence, and etcetera.

Being an Indonesian student from a non-engineering field, many of these things were alien to me. If even an undergraduate student like me is finding these things as a novelty, what about million other Indonesians? This is the thing I thought long and hard about.  When we talked about disruptive change during AUS, we were mostly talking about Singapore context. That is why it is relevant to talk about how robots are threatening human jobs, or how sharing economy has the potential of benefiting the whole society, or how the health industry can be more productive using the automatization of technical jobs. They are relevant, because Singapore as a first-world, tech savvy state, has the technology, resources, and the knowledge. They are advanced enough to began talking about the things that Indonesians are probably still dreaming about. Meanwhile, Indonesia, regardless of how rich it actually is, still grapples with issues that are probably considered neanderthal in Singapore. How are we supposed to integrate robots with humans and apply drones to military purposes when we still have a very basic problem of poverty and corruption? Of multiculturalism and religious tolerance? Of equality in area development?

So. How far behind are we really are in the matters of technological development? Here is a little illustration. Singapore is the country with the fastest 4G connection. It is currently developing a 5G. Meanwhile, in Indonesia it is very hard to find a stable 4G connection, even in big cities.

Yes, many disruptive change will benefit the society in the way it will open up opportunity and increase productivity, for example Sharing Economy platform. But during the AUS keynote speeches session, I kept wondering about how can these technologies be applied in Indonesian setting? In Indonesian rural areas where technological knowledge is lower? How do we teach about these? How can Indonesian societies as a whole benefit from these technologies? – Questions which yet I had to answer.

Writing this, I am deeply aware that there are a lot of complexities that hinder Indonesia from reaching its full potential, like the fact that Indonesia is huge, also having a huge population that we have to feed. Therefore it is way harder to allocate resources. It is harsh to compare Indonesia and Singapore, I know, but the reason I write this is merely to highlight that, yes, Indonesia is indeed a painfully developing country. So then I find it funny how many Indonesians still fight over themselves with issues like ‘Indonesia dikuasai antek asing!!1!’ and ‘Indonesia belongs to Pribumi!!!’ or, ‘Non-moslem cannot be a leader!!!’ when they can use their time and energy to actually be productive, or at least, learn about the bullshits they are spewing.

My other takeaway from keynote speeches about disruptive change is about how to see things from a non-sociopolitical perspective. Of course, being an International Relations student, I am trained to see the political implications of things, of how a certain policy will affect layers of society. I’ve realized that speakers in AUS mostly if not all, come from a business/engineeering background. Thus, they talked about the market, the opportunities it bring, the profit it can reap. They didn’t often talk about Government’s role, or the impacts it can bring to the ‘fragile’ groups of society. I remember myself raising an eyebrow and thinking to myself that yes, technocratic way of thinking is a real thing. It can be really destructive, I guess, maybe not in Singapore where practically everyone live above poverty line. So I think we do still need politicians and people from social studies background in order to make sure that future developments are people-sensitive and people-centered, regardless of how much Indonesians are sick of their politicians.

You see, we have so much to do.

All the more reasons to stop bullshits like ayo nikah muda! 

The Asian Undergraduate Summit (AUS) Experience in Brief

What -- Many of my friends have been asking about what was I doing in Singapore a few weeks back. As some of you may know, I had the pleasure of representing UGM in Asian Undergraduate Summit, a student-run platform connecting students from 7 countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, and South Korea. And yes, it was funded, otherwise I couldn’t afford staying in Singapore for a week. The theme for this year’s AUS is Leadership in a Complex World: Disruptive Change in Everyday Life.

NUS University Town

Where -- AUS was held in National University of Singapore, so I had the chance of experiencing what it might feel like studying in one of the best university in Asia. And man, it was glorious. NUS’ University Town is very well-designed and aesthetically pleasing. It has everything from dorms, bookstore, Guardian, sport store, 24-hour Starbucks, 24-hour convenience store, foodcourts, gym, swimming pool, multiple studying spots, 24-hour computer library, and so on and so forth. They make me realize how little UGM—and most of state universities in Indonesia, really—facillitates its students to learn. We’re not allowed to stay in campus until late at night, so mostly we have to stay in cafes instead of using campus facillities just like in NUS. This one time, my AUS team and I prepared for our presentation until 3 in the morning, aaand we could still use the classroom.

Who – AUS is a student-run program. So the Singapore leg is planned by NUS students. The first moment I arrived in NUS Utown, I was impressed at how professional the committee was. There was no confusion, no wasted time over registration process. I’ve been a committee for a lot of events, but none of them ever compares to how professional AUS was. Indonesian students’ events usually have a looot of committees, unlike AUS which only comprised of less than 20 (!) organisators. So we do need to learn a lot about productivity. AUS is supported by NUS University Scholars Program as well as Temasek Foundation Connects.

What did you do there? – AUS comprises of many activities, ranging from keynote speeches, workshops, site visits, and Design Thinking which is a method of coming up with an idea or innovation. For site visits, we went to Artscience Museum to see how technology has transformed what it means to essentially be human. Nothing is really natural. It really eye-opening to see how cyborgs, synthetic body parts, and a lot of things we usually see in Sci-Fi are actually real and happening right now. We went to Singtel Innovation Center and witness firsthand how communication technology has transformed very quickly. Did you know that 5G is currently being developed and would provide a near real-time communication? And we also visited the Lifelong Learning Institute, Clementi Food Market, and many other places.

Quote in Human+ Exhibition

On the last day of AUS, six best teams present their final idea to a panel of judges as well as the whole AUS participants. My team was one of these best teams (#proud), and we delivered our Amigo Idea as you can see here. It was my first time talking in front of such large international audience, such a nervewracking experience. But I did learn a lot from the pitching workshop before, so that helped.

Did you go sightseeing? – Definitely! Night time is a free schedule for us, so participants can go wherever they like. Other than that, I was lucky to be in a group whose facillitator is really facillitative in taking us to nice places. My group and I went to Chinese Garden (a popular dating spot!), climbed 8 levels into the pagoda, and watched the breathtaking sunset from above. We went to Orchard Road (ofcourse) when there was this Youth Festival thing and apparently we got the chance to watch ex-SNSD’s Jessica perform for free—Eventhough I don’t understand Kpop.

Chinese Garden

Favorite thing about Singapore? – For me, personally, definitely the public service. Coming from a country where public transport is very inadequate, I relished the efficiency and reliability of Singapore’s MRT and buses. Being in Singapore always created a wistful feeling of, Sigh, why wasn’t I born as Singaporean?; a feeling I have to shake off because I am supposed to be a delegate of my country who is proud of it!!!

Favorite part of AUS? – Honestly, AUS is very, very enjoyable. From its formal sessions to informal ones, I feel like I have learned so much. But for me, the chance of meeting fellow students from other countries and actually being friends with them might steal the spotlight. I can’t believe how sentimental I felt during the last night in AUS, where my group gathered together and writing things for each member of the group. I’m really lucky to have met them, and I miss them a lot right now hehe :’) And, the cultural night! It was reeeally exciting to see each countries perform and showcase their culture, tasting their foods, trying out their clothes, playing their traditional games. Dancing to Hindi songs was real fun!

                                          

So, that was AUS in brief. I’ll write some more posts about the ~knowledge stuff~. Stay tune!