RI hopes Japan will help IT projects

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia expects the Japanese government will allocate part of its US$15 billion "digital divide" fund to finance information technology development projects.

Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut Panjaitan said here on Friday that a team from the Indonesian information technology (IT) commission would meet Japanese officials here later this month to discuss the funding requirement.

The minister said the commission, known as Telematika Indonesian Coordinating Team, would propose a number of IT projects during the meeting.

"We certainly need the funding to promote Internet access in the country," Luhut said. But he was reluctant to mention how much of the Japanese aid Indonesia would require.

The Japanese government promised in a summit meeting in November of leaders of the eight industrialized countries in Tokyo to provide $15 billion in soft loans and grants to help promote the development of information technology in developing countries.

Promoting Internet access is one of the priorities of the funding.

The commission's secretary-general, J.B. Kristiadi, said that the team to join the meeting with the Japanese officials included representatives from the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Telecommunications and Information Technology Society and the Internet Service Provider Association (APJII).

Representative from the private sector would also take part in the meeting because the Japanese special aid would also be given to private companies.

Kristiadi said one of the proposed programs would be an ongoing Internet-goes-to school project. The project has been able to provide Internet access to 1,200 high schools or roughly 600,000 students, he added.

The project, known as Sekolah2000, is being carried out in cooperation with APJII, Warnet Association, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunication, and PT Telkom.

A number of telecommunications facilities have been built to support the program, Kristiadi said.

He said that the project is expected to be able to provide Internet access to 1,800 schools or 900,000 students.

Kristiadi said another program is establishing an e-government which is a government attempt to serve the public effectively through the Internet.

The e-government program will be one of the pilot projects to be carried out in several provinces this year such as in Jakarta and Tangerang, he said.

Other programs would also include promoting e-commerce, especially in small and medium enterprises.

Japan plans to provide $15 billion between 2001 and 2005 on programs to erase the digital divide between industrialized and developing nations. The fund will comprise $12 billion in loans and the remaining $3 billion as grants. (05)