- 21/07/2017
- Category: Commentaries
When we think of a smart city in Indonesia, big cities like Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya may come up. But probably nobody would think of Bojonegoro in their mind. Bojonegoro has embarked into a more ICT-integrated governance, as their strong commitment is further shown from their recent achievement. They are selected as the only Indonesian representative at Pilot Project Open Government. It is a movement pledging to promote strengthening an open, transparent and participative governance.[i] Such accomplishment is enabled by the fact that the government has also started adopting the big data analytics onto their governance. This is because big data is believed to improve decision making and increase organizational effectiveness by employing several analytical tools and methods to make sense of data.[ii] The coming of Big Data in Bojonegoro aims to increase public services, improve infrastructure, education systems, health care, and licensee, attract investors, and improve the economy.[iii] The regency is also able to increase their annual regional outcome from 50 billion rupiah to more than 300 billion rupiah. They also improved their agricultural productivity especially the yield to 9.700 tons by managing water, mapping the field and analyzing the weather.[iv]
Looking at this remarkable achievement, Bojonegoro has surely begun to take the spotlight as the new darling of governance innovation in the country. How does then the regency transform themselves into not only the front runner in big data and innovative governance, but also the prime example of ICT-based solutions for regional government in the country? The answer lies in the strong will of the government, led by their Regent. This is acknowledged by Mr. Suyoto, the Regent himself. The commitment does only extend to the effective use of government resources and infrastructure, but also to the willingness to open up and collaborate. The regency has teamed up with many vendors in developing their applications and solutions, as well as with other government institutions and foreign donors.[v]
Starting as a relatively poor and low-income regency in the region, Bojonegoro was entangled with problems of poverty and conflictual relationships between the government and the people.[vi] The government then initiated the move to reconcile with the people and win their trust back by improving transparency and accountability. This was firstly done in conventional ways, for example through regular open dialogue in villages and districts, as well as SMS gateway for complaints and inputs.[vii] Realizing how precious such data is for their development, the government started their initiative to maximize the utilization of data using analytics tools coordinated under their ICT Chief. The gathered data was then used to map out different social fields, ranging from the poverty area, the economically potential area, the area with highest literacy rate, and so on. These data could then be translated into meaningful information for the government to use to crack the problems faced by their people.
The analyzed data also informs the general public on the overall condition of the regency. According to Mr. Suyoto, their data plays role in inviting investment to the regency. Much more than that, the data can also be adopted by many for their further uses. The Regent also stresses out the importance of collaborating with local youths or organizations that may or may not enlarge the regency’s capacities in any field, for example the startups and local SMEs. [viii] This kind of openness to collaborative partnerships with other stakeholders opens many opportunities in the regency, as more resources can be empowered. For example, the government collaborated with PT Mediatrac, an IT company focusing on big data analytics. They helped the government in delivering better big data analysis, as well as integrating applications for a better mobile-friendly use. [ix]
All in all, Big Data is a promising tool to help government to reach their goals; serving the people. Looking at what Bojonegoro has accomplished, it is indeed becoming an inspiration for other governments. Trailing roads ahead are inevitable, as what Bojonegoro mentioned, but the commitment they cling on to shall never decease. This is important to make the IT utilization be fully realized by governments, not as a mere trend to follow, or even worse as the way to ‘maximize the spending of city budget.’ The achievements of Bojonegoro can at least be taken into notes by many governments as a lesson to learn, especially on the leader’s commitment. We have seen this phenomenon in the country; how committed leaders are able to ‘get the job done’, including in the pursuit of e-government, smart city, and off course big data analytics. Tri Rismaharini of Surabaya or Ridwan Kamil of Bandung can be the examples. The fact that Bojonegoro, who came as one of the poor regions in the East Java, managed to eradicate many social problems – including poverty – just by taking the risk of investing a lot on ICT and big data infrastructure, should be an enough driving engine for governments to actually rearrange their commitment and priorities in making real contributions to the society.
References:
[i] Kurniawan, S. (2016). Saat Big Data Besarkan Bojonegoro. [online] Marketeers. Available at http://marketeers.com/saat-big-data-besarkan-bojonegoro/ [accessed 29 may 2017]
[ii] Joseph, R.C. and Johnson, N. A. (2013). Big Data and Transformational Government. IT Professional, 15(6), pp. 43-48
[iii] Handoko, D. (2016). Bojonegoro kabupaten pertama terapkan big data. [online] Elshinta. Available at https://elshinta.com/news/76626/2016/08/30/bojonegoro-kabupaten-pertama-terapkan-big-data. [accessed on 29 may 2017]
[iv] Saksama, A. (2016). Bojonegoro Big Data (2). . Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZvlwfhDKhg&t=203s [accessed 29 may 2017]
[v] Kurniawan, S. (2016). Saat Big Data Besarkan Bojonegoro. [online] Marketeers. Available at http://marketeers.com/saat-big-data-besarkan-bojonegoro/ [accessed 29 may 2017]
[vi] Soeprajitno, H. (2016). Big Data, Cara Bojonegoro Melacak Kemiskinan. [online] Marketeers. Available at: http://marketeers.com/big-data-cara-bojonegoro-melacak-kemiskinan/. [accessed 29 May 2017]
[vii] Kurniawan, S. (2016). Saat Big Data Besarkan Bojonegoro. [online] Marketeers. Available at http://marketeers.com/saat-big-data-besarkan-bojonegoro/ [accessed 29 may 2017]
[viii] Kurniawan, S. (2016). Saat Big Data Besarkan Bojonegoro. [online] Marketeers. Available at http://marketeers.com/saat-big-data-besarkan-bojonegoro/ [accessed 29 may 2017]
[ix] Nuty. (2016). PT. MediaTrac Lakukan Assesment Aplikasi Pemkab Bojonegoro. [online] Dinkominfo Kabupaten Bojonegoro. Available at http://dinkominfo.bojonegorokab.go.id/index.php/berita/baca/186 [accessed 29 may 2017]
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