by Catherine Setiawan
The first panel of the conference was held at the NT Department of Trade, Business and Innovation and discussed issues of Government, Business, and Politics – looking at these topics from a ‘top-down’ perspective.
The speakers were Dr. Ross Tapsell, Lecturer and Researcher at ANU, Air Marshal (Ret) Eris Herryanto, Secretary of the Asian Games 2018, and Nicholas McClean, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UTS. The panel was moderated by strategic marketing and social media expert Farina Situmorang.
A number of interesting points were highlighted during the discussion. First was the apparent polarization of Indonesia politics during the 2019 campaign compared to 2014, looking particularly at the influence of Islam. Panelists provided the next president with a message to work together with all sectors to improve the development and stabilization of human resources in Indonesia, and to take action in combating extremist activity.
Success stories on certain economic development issues were raised, especially in the context of fisheries from a leadership perspective. Speakers also addressed the lessons learned from the Indonesia elections, and what Australian could learn ahead of their own Federal election in May of this year.
At the end of the panel, speakers expressed their hopes for Indonesia across the next five years in relation to increasing Indonesia’s stability and investing in sustainability, which were agreed to be highly important. In addition, the next elected president would need to take increased action to combat extremist and radical movements. Improving Indonesia’s business landscape is also important to invite more foreign investors, which is essential to create more jobs in the country.
Last but not least, panelists agreed that raising transparency and accountability in the parliament is fundamental. Political polarization should not impact the idealism of youth movements. Furthermore, Indonesia needs many more new activists to consolidate the credibility of youth movements and to prepare for the next batch of Indonesian presidential candidates in 2024 and beyond.