Independence Means Digital Sovereignty
Commemorating independence at 81 years of age for Indonesia should not stop at ceremonies, flag-raising, or remembering the struggles of predecessors. For a generation living amid technological acceleration, independence has an increasingly broad meaning: the ability to stand on one’s own strength, including mastering technology and safeguarding the nation’s digital sovereignty.
Today, people’s lives can hardly be separated from technology. We learn through digital platforms, transact online, store information in various digital services, and use artificial intelligence to help complete work.
This dependence raises an important question: will we only be users of technology, or can we become a nation that helps create and determine the direction of its development?
This is one form of struggle for Indonesia’s young generation today. Independence in the digital era cannot be sufficiently understood merely as the freedom to use technology. More broadly, independence means having the ability to create technology that provides benefits, maintains information security, respects privacy, and solves societal problems.
We do not want the younger generation to become mere technology consumers who use various applications made by other parties every day without understanding how the technology works and how their data is managed. Indonesia needs a generation that dares to move up a class: from users to creators, from consumers to innovators, and from opportunity seekers to opportunity creators. Therefore, technology education bears a great responsibility.
As Head of the Informatics Study Programme at Universitas Nusa Mandiri, I see that informatics students are not sufficiently equipped merely with the ability to write code. Technical ability is indeed an important foundation, but technology always has social consequences. A system we build will be used by humans, store human data, and potentially affect human life.
A prospective technology professional must possess critical thinking skills and ethical awareness. When students study artificial intelligence, for example, they not only need to understand how to build models or utilise algorithms. They also need to understand issues of privacy, data security, bias, transparency, and the impact of technology on society.
Likewise, when they build an information system. Security must not be considered only after the system is completed. Data protection and privacy must be part of the process from the outset.
Great technology is not merely sophisticated technology. Great technology is technology that can solve problems without creating new, larger problems. This is where higher education must play a role.
Campuses must become spaces that allow students to experiment, test ideas, make mistakes, learn from the process, then improve and produce better solutions. Technology education must not become trapped in theory that is far removed from societal problems.
Students must obtain opportunities to connect the knowledge they learn with real needs. When a student develops an application to help micro, small, and medium enterprises, for example, they are actually learning more than just programming. They are learning to understand user needs, design solutions, manage data, consider system security, and simultaneously understand the economic problems of society.
When students create systems that assist public services, they are learning that technology has a humanitarian dimension. And when they create more accessible educational solutions, they are demonstrating that technology can be an instrument for equalising opportunity.
This is where the relationship between technology and independence lies. Independence should provide space for everyone to develop. Technology can expand that space if used responsibly. However, technology can also create inequality if controlled only by a few parties.
Therefore, building human resources who master technology is not merely an industrial necessity. It is part of the nation’s strategic investment. Indonesia has a young generation with great creativity. The challenge is how that potential is directed into competencies and works that have an impact.
We need more programmers, data scientists, cybersecurity experts, artificial intelligence developers, researchers, technopreneurs, and technology professionals who are not only technically excellent but also have concern for society.
As a Digital Business Campus, Universitas Nusa Mandiri views technology education as part of efforts to prepare a generation that is adaptive to change. Students are not only directed to understand technology but are also encouraged to see technology as an instrument for creating value and solving problems.
This spirit aligns with Universitas Nusa Mandiri’s commitment: Turn Dreams into Achievements. That slogan will have meaning when students’ dreams are truly translated into competencies, works, innovations, and contributions.
Ultimately, digital sovereignty will not be born merely from the hardware or software we possess. Digital sovereignty is born from people who are able to create, manage, secure, and use technology responsibly.
At this momentum of 81 years of Indonesian independence, let us broaden the meaning of independence. Independence is not only freedom from colonisation, but also freedom from dependence on knowledge and technology.
To students, keep learning and do not be afraid to experiment. To the young generation with aspirations…