Director General of Dukcapil Emphasises the Importance of Competent Human Resources in Population Data Management

Strengthening human resources (HR) is the primary key in managing population data in the digital era. This is because strong infrastructure is deemed not to yield optimal results without adequate capacity from the apparatus supporting it.

This was conveyed by the Director General (Dirjen) of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) at the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), Teguh Setyabudi, during the Capacity Enhancement for Population Data Managers for Provincial and District/City Dukcapil Apparatus in 2026 Batch I at Savero Hotel on Wednesday (6/5).

In his remarks, Teguh emphasised that population system development does not solely focus on strengthening infrastructure such as servers, networks, and cybersecurity, but must also be balanced with HR readiness as the primary managers.

“If the network and cybersecurity infrastructure is strong but the HR is vulnerable, what does that mean?” said Teguh.

He explained that this activity is part of ongoing efforts to enhance the capacity of Dukcapil apparatus in line with the acceleration of digital transformation being implemented.

Through the Dukcapil Go Digital policy, the utilisation of information technology becomes a primary need that must be balanced with the apparatus’s ability to manage and utilise it optimally.

“If it’s already Go Digital, it means IT utilisation is very urgent,” he stated.

Furthermore, Teguh affirmed that population data holds a strategic position as the main foundation in government administration and public services.

“Dukcapil data covers, becomes the basis [and] backbone for all services; we underpin all public services,” he clarified.

According to him, population data is not only used for administrative services but also serves as a reference in development planning, aid distribution, and the implementation of general elections (Pemilu) and regional head elections (Pilkada).

In that context, the implementation of the Population Identification Number (NIK) as a single identity number continues to be strengthened to support cross-sector utilisation.

Teguh also outlined the achievements in population data recording, which show a positive trend. Based on data from the second semester of 2025, Indonesia’s population reaches approximately 288 million people, with e-KTP recording having exceeded 97 percent of the total mandatory KTP holders.

This figure is estimated to continue increasing along with the population now exceeding 289 million people.