Bappenas Urges Universities to Steer National Development

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister for National Development Planning/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Rachmat Pambudy stated that universities are the first and last hope for safeguarding national development. “Universities are the first and last hope for safeguarding national development. If universities fail, then our development fails. Universities are the place for the crème de la crème, the brightest people in the Republic of Indonesia. Not only the brightest, but hopefully also the wisest in Indonesia,” he said at the SDGs Center Conference 2026 in Jakarta on Thursday. He emphasised that campuses must become a compass to steer national development. To that end, he noted that rectors, with their internally free thinking, play a crucial role in pushing Indonesian universities into the world’s top 50. The Bappenas head also directed all campus stakeholders, from leadership and lecturers to students, to develop Indonesia’s natural resource wealth by transforming its comparative advantages into competitive advantages. Rachmat Pambudy specifically underlined the urgency of executing the energy transition without triggering inflation caused by a shift that is too rapid and too expensive, a phenomenon he termed green inflation. On the occasion, he also shared that Indonesia is currently studying the development of herbal-based biomedicine in China to incorporate it as part of disease control. “We recently sent a delegation to the People’s Republic of China to study herbal-based biomedicine, biomedicine based on local excellence, based on our tropical biological capabilities. If this can become part of our disease control and health efforts, then we will once again excel,” said the Minister.