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?