Anxiety and apathy as millennium bug nears

Anxiety and apathy as millennium bug nears

JAKARTA (JP): The Y2K confusion has raised alarms in all
institutions and offices which rely on a computer system to keep
operations running.

But as it turns out, not all people from those institutions
are nervous about the "doomsday" prospect of the next millennium
(Y2K). Below are some comments given by people from different
offices:

Richardus Eko Indrajit, a computer expert at the STIMIK
Perbanas computer institute:

Indonesia is very slow in addressing the Y2K issue. This is
partly attributed to long bureaucratic procedures carried out by
the government task force team assigned to handle the problem.

A lack of technical expertise is another problem. Our
institute is providing companies with free consultancy on the
issue. Senior students are also encouraged to put their knowledge
into practice as part of our curriculum.

There must be political will on the part of the government to
take prompt action. No more debating. This also applies to top
management in private companies. The Y2K problem is not merely an
IT (information technology) system problem but also a chain of IT
malfunctions.

Anshari Ritonga, director general of tax:

Many vendors have a bad attitude, trying to take advantage of
people lacking knowledge on the extent of the Y2K problem.

Robert Kerr, president director of PT Konsumindo Mitra Kerjasa
and board member of Indonesian-British Business Association:

Y2K is normally considered a problem for companies or
governments. Individuals, however, need to review their own
personal affairs in the same way. Can we be sure your bank will
not lose your money on Jan. 1, 2000? Perhaps we should ask them
for reassurance.

It will be important for the government to be in a position to
reassure ordinary citizens. The risk is that greater awareness
will result in panic buying or withdrawals from banks. This has
to be avoided. It will be a shame if such a special event such as
a new millennium is spoiled by a simple problem of two digits.

Gatot Wibisono, an IBM project manager and a member of the
country's Y2K task force:

Anybody still unprepared does not have enough time.

The sectors which tend to be relatively more prepared are
airlines and finance. Airlines because they are, in general, more
international oriented, and finance because it is motivated by
the threat of boycott from the international community if the
world's payment system is disturbed by any country.

Companies affiliated with foreign partners also tend to be
more prepared.

Suharso, head of the Jakarta Fire Department:

We don't feel bothered by the Y2K problem as we don't use a
sophisticated computer system let alone a computer network. The
only possibility of using a computer is on data storage but most
of that is still done by a manual system.

Our fire-fighting equipment is not computerized either, so we
do not need to rack our brains about the worldwide millennium bug
problem.

Riduan Wijaya, owner of Megagis computer shop and service at
Central Jakarta's Gajah Mada shopping center:

Issues on the Y2K problem do not have a good impact, which
means good business for personal computer businesses and services
like me because newly released computer programs won't be
affected by the bug.

It will only cost about Rp 1.5 million to upgrade a program
for a PC which is not yet ready for the Y2K.

I think issues on the bug problem are a good chance for
computer programmers to reap more money as their skills are now
needed.

Yanto Mulyanto, head of electronic data processing department
of PT Guna Paramita Prima Satya, a carton producer:

The millennium bug issue does not make me too busy as my
office uses a simple computer system for administration matters
like accounting, maintenance and personnel affairs.

Beny Arifin Yustian, head of systems information management of
the Jakarta electronic data processing office:

Actually, we have been aware of bug threat since 1995, when we
were about to process data on vehicle ownership documents which
were valid for five years and expire in 2000.

Since then, the office has undertaken significant efforts to
tackle the problem but the work can't be done within a short time
due to high cost.

Only 30 percent of the administration's entire computer system
has yet to be vetted for the global problem as it is only used,
for example, to record the city's assets.

The Y2K issue has forced our office to allocate Rp 162 billion
for replacement of software and Rp 150 billion for expenses of a
team established for millennium bug projects, money which is not
taken from special funds but from our routine budget. (ind/rei)