Can we really afford to forgo vital information infrastructure?

Can we really afford to forgo vital information infrastructure?

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): John Chamber, Cisco Systems' CEO, recently gave
an excellent presentation that reminded me of one important thing
that even our new government, which is led by a technologist,
seems to have completely forgotten: The undeniably pervasive role
of information technology in our lives today.

And, as CEO of the biggest provider for Internet networking
gear that Fortune calls "the Godzilla of datacom", John Chamber
should certainly know what he was talking about during the two-
day International Journalist Conference at Cisco's headquarters
in San Jose, California, held at the end of last month.

First, we need to keep in mind that information technology
(IT) is not only PCs and the stand-alone software that we run on
them, such as word processor and spreadsheet, which help us get
our job done more quickly and, therefore, increase our
productivity. Information technology encompasses an entire range
of technology that allows people and businesses to capture,
process, store and share data, communicate across the globe, work
together with people in other parts of the world, and compete
with one another. Information technology eliminates geographical
distances and makes time differences insignificant. Information
technology also helps governments -- and other organizations --
streamline their operations and increase their efficiency.

In his talk, John Chamber, who has been traveling throughout
Asia and Australia quite extensively for the past 15 years, spoke
of the conversations that he had with top leaders in the region.

"These leaders," he said, "were very anxious to know how the
Internet was going to change the economic future of their
countries. What they needed to do to position their countries for
what was about to happen. What jobs it would create. How
businesses should change. And what roles their government should
play in stimulating that."

Here in Indonesia we are just about to clear the debris and
rebuild our country. However, it should be clear that we can't
afford to ignore the fact that we're now in the wired world.
Whatever its implications are on our social and political lives,
our government -- whether transitional or otherwise -- should not
fail to pay attention to the development of our national IT
infrastructure.

"Three years ago," John said further, "when I gave a speech in
Singapore, Beijing or Sydney, only 20 to 30 people were present.
Now, each time I give a presentation, 400 to 700 business
executives are there. They want to know what information
technology, including the Internet, can do to help them in their
business."

This demonstrates clearly how business executives now
understand the need to learn the changes that information
technology brings. They also realize that they will have to
interface with their customers more and more through the
networks.

Cooperatives

It is misleading to think that information technology will
only benefit the rich and the techno-savvy. About a year ago, I
was asked by a startup company that was busily preparing a model
of an on-line system that would connect every cooperative in
Indonesia to give my comments on the project.

Using the on-line system that they were working on, they said
that cooperative members in various parts of the country would be
able to check out the latest prices of their products, file
requests for loans, and communicate with members of other
cooperatives in other provinces. What a wonderful idea. However,
when I asked them about the infrastructure that they were going
to rely on, they couldn't give me a definite answer. Moreover,
they were developing the system using Clipper, while it was clear
to me that the on-line system should be built based on the
Internet technology. I have not heard any news on their project
since then.

We have the huge task of constructing a backbone
infrastructure for a nationwide information superhighway called
Nusantara 21 (N-21). Due to the monetary crisis -- and the
ensuing political and social crises -- talks about the N-21
project were drowned in a cacophony of demands for reform.
However, now that the dust is settling, we need to race against
time to build the necessary information infrastructure. But how
can this goal be achieved this if there is no designated high-
level authority to oversee it?

Perhaps, as I told John Higgs, Cisco's director of marketing
for Greater Asia, John Chamber could do us a favor by coming to
Indonesia and share with our leaders his insights of the on-going
information revolution. I'm sure he will be able to show us why
we need to capitalize on the technology to regain competitiveness
as a nation.

As John said at the beginning of his talk, the Internet is
changing every aspect of our lives. It changes the way we work,
live, learn and play. Our neighbors have already gone a long way
in embracing this new era of information technology. Malaysia has
its Multimedia Super Corridor project. Singapore has its
Singapore One project. President Ramos of the Philippines has
very close relationships with leaders of the world's most
influential IT companies. How can we compete with them if we
never even get our N-21 project off the ground?