One app to rule them all in Indonesia?

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Hello reader,

A couple of years ago, my mother very kindly sent me a small box of Christmas presents from her home in Ireland to mine in Vietnam.

Little did she know this would set off a Kafkaesque saga, as it turned out I had to secure an import license for the books in the box. In theory, it was possible to get one on a local Hanoi government website.

But in practice, that proved impossible no matter how many times I tried to navigate the labyrinthine corridors of the confusing website. In the end, it was easier to make several trips in person to the relevant government office and fill in some paper forms to receive the import license and my books.

It’s fair to say governments everywhere have a spotty track record when it comes to offering key public services online. One country that’s making a push to improve those services is Indonesia, and today’s featured story dives into those efforts.

Today we look at:

• The concerns clouding Indonesia’s govtech ambitions
• Singapore’s top two universities launch a startup incubator program
• Other newsy highlights such as Chinese hackers breaching Verizon to attack US election campaign aides and South Africa’s Tyme Group entering Indonesia via a partnership

Premium summary

Indonesia’s government goes digital

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Indonesia has around 27,000 public service apps, so the government’s plan to aggregate and integrate them into govtech platform INA Digital certainly makes sense.

However, while industry observers see the good intentions behind the move, there are concerns about the government’s subpar tech track record.

• Early days: Three platforms were launched on INA Digital on a limited-release basis at the end of September: a digital identity portal, a public service portal, and a civil servants portal. When a wider rollout will occur is still uncertain.
• Who’s in charge?: Perum Peruri, a state-owned enterprise in charge of printing the country’s banknotes, has been tapped to oversee INA Digital, which seems a curious choice. For comparison, Singapore’s govtech agency works under the Prime Minister’s Office. While Perum Peruri has undergone a digital transformation in recent years, it did have problems with its e-seal (akin to a digital signature but for official documents) website earlier this year as it struggled to accommodate high traffic.
• Talent matters: One advantage state-owned enterprises like Perum Peruri have over government ministries is access to talent and funding, according to a source in Indonesia’s VC industry. Take Govtech Edu, for example. The organization was launched in 2020 to digitalize the country’s education sector and operates under the state-owned firm Telkom Indonesia. Its team now includes executives from companies like McKinsey and Company, Traveloka, and Grab.

Read more: Indonesia’s govtech ambitions shadowed by concerns

US$37 million startup surge

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