Ridwan Kamil: Important Key to National Economic Growth

Accelerating development in rural areas is an essential key to driving Indonesia’s economic growth. Through the Ministry of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Mendes PDTT), the government emphasized the Village Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be the direction of village development policies until 2030. As stated in one of President Joko Widodo’s Nawacita, “Building Indonesia from the periphery by strengthening the regions and villages within the framework of a unitary state”, to become a reference for the direction of provincial and regional government policies.

With the theme of its inaugural Public Lecture “Prosperity for All: Village Development Efforts in West Java for Equal Welfare”, the Blue Ocean Strategy Fellowship (BOSF) appointed the Governor of West Java Province, Moch. Ridwan Kamil as a Distinguished Fellow from February to June 2023. The BOSF is a thought leadership program that aims to produce effective innovative approaches to solving issues or problems in the public and private sectors in Indonesia.

Organized in collaboration with Sampoerna University (SU), the Indonesian School of Government and Public Policy (SGPP), and the Blue Ocean Global Network, BOSF runs this fellowship program for five months to share innovations and solve problems that are the focus of development in Indonesia, one of which is village development.

In a Public Lecture that took place at Sampoerna University on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, the Governor of West Java and BOSF Distinguished Fellow, Ridwan Kamil, said that a leader must have two main components to succeed, namely personality and capacity. “As the leader of West Java, this is what I always hold because of personality and capacity, the two complement each other. Within four years of my leadership, West Java Province succeeded in advancing 977 underdeveloped and very underdeveloped villages. Alhamdulillah, today there are no underdeveloped and very underdeveloped villages in West Java Province which we have achieved through the GERBANG DESA (Village Building Movement) program to achieve ‘zeroing underdeveloped villages’ in our province,” said Ridwan Kamil.

“Nearly 60% of the processing industry is located in West Java, so the national economy is heavily influenced by the performance of the industry in this area. In the economic structure of West Java, the industrial sector has the largest contribution and ranks first, followed by the agricultural sector. This is a strength for West Java to absorb labor for economic and social inequalities in society,” added the man who is familiarly called Kang Emil.

As a partner of BOSF in Indonesia, the President of Sampoerna University Dr. Marshall Schott said that this partnership is a strategic collaboration for Sampoerna University to increase public awareness of the importance of developing Indonesia from the village so that it does not just get lost in the hustle and bustle of urban life and forget about village communities. “Sampoerna University is very pleased to be working with the School of Government and Public Policy (SGPP) and the Blue Ocean Group Network from Singapore to host the Blue Ocean Strategy Fellowship program. This program aims to engage and support some of Indonesia’s best talents to address issues that are very important to all of us. Through research and public forums, we know that this Fellowship will serve as a powerful catalyst for further dialogue and solutions in the public space.” said Marshall.

School of Government and Public Policy (SGPP) CEO Ony Avrianto Jamhari said, “School of Government and Public Policy (SGPP) has a mission to train future public leaders who are able to solve the most challenging public problems and increase the chances of producing wanted good policy outcomes. BOSF can be used as a learning model for good practices or best and bad practices in an institution, both government and non-government. Decision makers can use this method in making decisions.”

This Public Lecture was also followed by a Panel Discussion session consisting of Distinguished Fellow Moch. Ridwan Kamil, Lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering and Technology at Sampoerna University Professor Teddy Mantoro, and Member of the Indonesian Parliament Commission XI, Princess Anetta Komaruddin. This panel discussed the same big topic, namely how village development is an important key in driving national economic growth.

BOSF hopes that the presence of this program can support the government in making relevant public policies and responding to current challenges, in order to encourage national economic growth, in this case, particularly through village development.

As part of this program, BOSF will hold a second Public Lecture in May. For more information, please visit https://bosf.sampoernauniversity.ac.id/.