Dissertation on Protecting 64 Million SMEs, Hardjuno Earns Doctor of Law

Shri Hardjuno Wiwoho has officially been awarded the title of Doctor of Law from the Postgraduate Programme at Borobudur University. The title was obtained after the advocate and legal practitioner from Jakarta successfully defended his dissertation at the Open Session for Doctoral Promotion at Campus A of Borobudur University, Jalan Laksamana Malahayati (Raya Kalimalang) Number 1, East Jakarta, on Thursday (9/4/2026).

In the session chaired by Prof Rudi Bratamanggala, Hardjuno presented a dissertation relevant to the national digital economic transformation agenda. The title is “Reformulation of Legal Policies for Creating a Digitalisation Ecosystem for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to Improve Community Welfare in Indonesia”.

He explained that the research emerges amid an urgent reality, namely that more than 64 million MSME units in Indonesia have only about half utilising digital platforms for business activities. However, MSMEs absorb 97 per cent of the national workforce and contribute more than 60 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP).

“Overlapping regulations, uneven digital infrastructure, low legal literacy among MSME actors, and the dominance of large platforms that disadvantage small businesses are real barriers to development,” said Hardjuno in a press release in Jakarta on Friday (10/4/2026).

According to him, the dissertation offers three models of novelty that are both conceptual and applicable. First, the tripartite legal protection model that proportionally regulates the relationships between MSMEs as sellers, consumers, and third parties such as digital platforms, payment service providers, and logistics services.