Habibie wants more graduates<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Research and Technology B.J.
\nHabibie said yesterday that the various \"strategic industries\"
\nwhich he supervises need more top Indonesian technical graduates
\nin order to flourish.<\/p>\n
The 10 companies which operate under the Agency for the
\nSupervision of Strategic Industries (BPIS) currently have only
\n3,967 university graduates of technical studies, or a mere eight
\npercent, out of total employees of more than 45,000, Habibie said
\nduring a hearing with the House of Representatives<\/p>\n
These state enterprises could do with more technical
\ngraduates, he told the House's Commission I, which deals with
\nnational security issues.<\/p>\n
The majority of the employees of the 10 companies are non-
\ntechnical university graduates and undergraduates.<\/p>\n
\"Ideally there should be at least 10 percent university
\ngraduates with technical background working in the state-owned
\nenterprises under BPIS,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The 10 enterprises under BPIS supervision are PT IPTN
\n(aircraft manufacture), PT PAL (shipbuilding), PT Pindad (arms
\nmanufacture), PT Dahana (industrial explosive manufacture), PT
\nKrakatau Steel, PT Boma Bisma Indra (energy and factory equipment
\nmanufacture) PT Barata Indonesia (heavy duty and agricultural
\nequipment manufacture), PT INKA (locomotive manufacture), PT INTI
\n(telecommunications) and PT LEN Industri (electronics and
\nelectric components).<\/p>\n
Habibie said Indonesia needed more highly-skilled workers to
\ndeal with the rapidly changing technology.<\/p>\n
\"We have to develop our workers' skills and knowledge in order
\nto deal with the growth of technology in the future,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Habibie said that if Indonesia was capable of producing more
\ntechnology graduates, the country would be well placed to compete
\nwith any nation in the world, in part because Indonesians would
\nbe willing to accept lower salaries.<\/p>\n
He said that Indonesia must seize the opportunity presented by
\nthe rapid economic growth that the Asia-Pacific region is
\ncurrently experiencing.<\/p>\n
He cited a forecast by the Deutsche Bank which said that, by
\nthe year 2019, Asia's new growing economies, including Indonesia,
\nwill account for more than 50 percent of the world's gross
\ndomestic product. Japan, the United States and Europe together
\nwill only account for 40 percent and African and Latin American
\ncountries the other 10 percent, Habibie quoted the study as
\npredicting. (imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/habibie-wants-more-graduates-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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