ENHANCING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF SMES: Subnational Innovation Systems and Technological Capacity Building Policies

                                                                       Andi Eka Sakya                                                                                

                                                                              Abstract 

Materializing the national development on Science and Technology (S&T), the Government of Indonesia has implemented the National System of Innovation approach. The S&T related Law and Regulation have been promulgated with the objective to create and encourage the S&T institutions to have a close collaborative network among them. The incentive schemes related with S&T activities that bridges and facilitates researchers into economic scale of activity, has also been made possible. Furthermore, the government has also set up incubators as an intermediation body facilitating research to innovation that is expected to expedite the creation of technology based SMEs. The small adoption of R&D products has, however, impeded the progress of technology based SMEs creation. Further reviews show that this matter seems to relate with various kinds of conditions, among others, a low percentage of S&T budget to GDP. This report discusses existing data related with the effort of the Government of Indonesia in establishing the National System of Innovation. 

A. Introduction

In the modern age, it is realized that the key to national prosperity lies in effective combination of three factors: technology, natural resources and capital. The first is the most important factor since the creation and adoption of new scientific techniques can make up for a deficiency in natural resources, and reduce the demands of capital. Indeed, the depth of the innovative ideas and technologies implanted in services, products and manufacturing processes determine the capability of a nation in fostering high standard of living and job creation within her society. We are now entering a transition period bridging the changing from traditional economy to knowledge-based one or information society. There are three fundamental items that have affected overall life of the people, and thus competitiveness of a state, and those are Globalization, Information, Knowledge, and Networking and Connectivity.

The information technology turns out to be the main core of means in connecting and accelerating the operation and process of development in the future. Speed have lessen the time lack and shorten the distance, and thus inflict the 24 hours a day operation and process. Information and knowledge goes into the place where no bottleneck exist, milieu determines the price and value. And it confirms that the key component of knowledge-based economy lies on the human capital and competencies.

As an initial approach toward the afore-mentioned problem, the Ministry of Research and Technology (MoRT) of Indonesia enacted the Law on the National System of the Research, Development and Application of Science and Technology. The Law has emphasized on efforts in providing and adopting innovation as a means through the approach of manifesting the National System of Innovation. Appreciation for an innovation will be facilitated and implemented through various kinds of operational policies such as incentive policies in promoting research, development and engineering activities. Furthermore, the development and the impact of technology in the modern era required obedient people who responded to the technology’s demand. Only by committing to permanent practice of management of technology, will organizations experience technological change as a principle driver of competition. Through that approach, it is expected that the creation of innovation-based SMEs can be facilitated.

This paper discusses the growth of SMEs in Indonesia, the available incentive programme and schemes as well as the intermediary mechanism introduced by the government. A brief discussion on the important function of incubators in facilitating the commercialization process is touched upon. The R&D budget that pose important support for the creation of technology-based SMEs is also reviewed.

B. SME in Indonesia
There is no doubt that SMEs in Indonesia – as also generally occur in many countries – can be trustworthy. The crisis took place several years ago had proven themselves. Therefore, their position is very strategic. In 1998, based on the National Statistic Bureau (BPS – in Indonesian), the total number of SMEs reaches approximately 37 million. Despite the crises, the number increases to 42.3 million in 2003.

The SME’s contribution to the non-oil and gas exported product had risen from US$ 7.55 million in 2000 to US$ 7.59 million in 2003. Apart from its great number, SMEs has also a very strategic role in workforce absorption, poverty alleviation and a safeguard during the crisis. The existence of SMEs has absorbed 99.40 per cent work force in 1998, despite its small contribution to the GDP, which is only 39.8 per cent. But, in 2003 the labour absorption attains 99.45 per cent and shares 56.71 per cent of GDP. In 1999, Kaswanto run a survey on 167.000 SME in the manufacturing sector observing their technological problem [1]. It can be concluded that (i) although the number of SME is very potential, it seems structurally very weak, (ii) the constraint faced by SME related with technology is very significant, and (iii) the technological problem that can be connected to Management, Production, Competition as well as Material Access, arrives at approximately 69 per cent.

It is presumable that within the SME, only a small portion adapts to innovation and technology, and that is the medium-sized one (15 per cent). Our recent investigation shows that only 11.5 per cent within this group admits to apply management of innovation and technology at their organization [2]. This reproduces result of survey by Kaswanto [1] that more than 68 per cent of SME faced technology related problem. The Government has, in fact, offered SMEs to adopt research results through research incentive policy mechanisms, either in the form of direct fund or others such as proliferation of product. On the R&D side, the problems seem to not only relate with the adoption and transaction processes, but also regulation.


It is widely accepted that the human resources in the R&D institutes especially the public one are very potential and highly capable, their performance and working culture are exceeding the average level of their counterparts in non-R&D Institutes. The number of regulation has, however, caused the number of research products fail to reach an ambient number or critical level that can regenerate resources. On the other hand,
Sudarsa [3] reiterated the problem that SMEs faced on transferring technology. The process of internalization within the organization is hampered by various kinds of causes. Technology transfer in Indonesia still needs direct involvement of the government. Our survey supports the Sudarsa’s presumption in term of participation in the government programme on technology development (21.4 per cent) and acquisition (7.4 per cent) in the period of 2000 – 2004.


C. Policy on science, technology and innovation
The Indonesian S&T and Innovation Policy and its implementation derive from various kinds of legal products. By constitution the Government of Indonesia ought to develop the national S&T Policy based on religious values and the unity of the nation in order to ensure the human civilization and the national prosperity (Art 31 clause 5 of the Amendment of the 1945 Indonesian Constitution - UUD 45).

Under the State Guidelines covered within the Decree of the People’s Consultative Assembly (No. 4/1999), it has been affirmed that the empowerment of SMEs and cooperatives as well as the improvement of national competitiveness shall be conducted through the mastering and utilizing S&T. It furthermore stresses that technology shall be further utilized to conduct activities to improve national health, education, food fulfillment, industry and others, in order to meet self-sufficiency and improvement of the nation competitiveness.

The Law No. 18/2002 on the National System of the Research, Development and Application of S&T was enacted in 2002. This Law aims at enhancing the support on National S&T, in order to accelerate the national achievements and to improve national competitiveness, self-reliance and excellence for supporting economic importance in international forum. It functions as a guideline to the formulation of the National System of Innovation.  In this regard, the role of the central government, regional governments and society especially business players should be in synergy and harmonist in order to develop the national S&T.  Furthermore, it also emphasizes on the importance of the networking among universities, R&D institutions under the Ministries and the Departments, supporting institutions, aiming to establish the joint cooperation which will be supporting, encouraging, and completing one another, in order to avoid the overlapping of R&D activities.


This Law has been made operational through the Presidential Instruction No 4/2003. This instruction reaffirms the function of MoRT as the coordinator for the formulation of a national S&T policy and its implementation. Figure 4.4 shows the interrelation among the institutions within the perspective of this policy.

The promulgation of Laws No. 18/2003 has given a foundation on the operational and implementation level. Basically, there are four aspects included in that Law. The aspects intrinsically describe the basic pillars of the National System of Innovation, i.e. (i) institutional synergy covering resources and S&T Network, (ii) utilization of S&T product for economic purposes, (iii) protection for S&T doers, and (iv) encouragement of society within the utilization and development of S&T activities.

Aiming at facilitating the national S&T activities and products in order to become the main core of national industrial product, the State Ministry of Research and Technology strive at creating an environment that conducive in transforming S&T activities and products into economic scale of activity. The improvement of competitiveness position is, therefore, aimed at, such as: (i) enrichment of resource advantage by encouraging
society to cultivate national assets and capabilities so that they can collectively become part of the national competitiveness, (ii) betterment of positional advantage by strengthening production value-added chain for domestic as well as international markets, and (iii) sustaining regeneration advantage process by disentangling all competition that weaken the regional bargaining position and by encouraging the activities that can regenerate and renovate the sources of national competence.

Those three efforts were implemented through the instrument policy in the form of incentive programmes. Until in the year 2004, there were about 32 incentive programmes, ranging from basic research till the proliferation and dissemination of technology products. Table 4.4 shows a matrix of the incentive programme mapping seen from the perspective on sustaining activity from research to commercial activities.

Percentage of S&T budget as well as R&D tends to decrease. It can be seen that the S&T budget in 2002 decreases from that of in 2000. Not only did the nominal amount of the budget decreases, but also the percentage of R&D budget to GDP within the last three years. The ratio of S&T budget utilization for R&D tends to grow lately (Figure 4.5).

The source of research funding in the universities is supported by the government 76 per cent, internal source of income within the university 11.2 per cent, private companies as well as foreign sources shares 5.6 per cent each, respectively. The government is central to the development of S&T.

In the last 5 years, within the institutes that directly coordinating the S&T activity, the funding is distributed into 8 institutions under the coordination of MoRT. The ratio of budget utilizing the 0.2 per cent of GDP between MoRT and the R&D agencies is 60 per cent to 40 per cent. And, within the MoRT, 65 per cent of the budget is allocated to run the incentive programmes.

The total funding disburses through the incentive programme, although it creates support for SMEs especially for technology-based ones, is still not sufficient to fortify the 42.3 million SMEs. Moreover, as it can be reviewed that, although the government support is needed during the early period of research, but majority (> 60 per cent) of funds is, however, required during the development, fortification and sustaining the product.

A case of example can be taken from the RUT Programme (Integrated Priority Research Fund) which was started in 1993. It is aimed to encourage researcher to collaborate with their colleagues to propose research topic in the subject defined. This programme has funded more than 1,307 research topics. Each topic is granted for – at the longest – three years. In average each researcher is granted for US$ 10,000 annually.

Research proposals are categorized in three groups, i.e. basic research, applied research and technology product development. Among the research funded, approximately ~17 per cent is basic research, ~ 68 per cent applied research, and the rest is technology product development. The programme has successfully reduced the idle capacity of laboratories, increased the communication among researchers in various places in Indonesia, and facilitated many new ideas. However, the adoption of the result apparently smaller than what is expected. The monitoring and evaluation conducted in 2001 showed that adoption of research result was less than 4 per cent [5].

Many developing countries have implemented the idea of Technology Based Incubator (TBI) as an intermediary between researches to innovation. The goals of incubator are, among others, technology transfer and commercialization, fostering innovation and technology based SMEs, promotion of a market-oriented economic system and private sector economic development [6]. Through the TBI, a newly start-up S&T based SME is made capable of affording premises, appropriate business services as well as seed capital or working capital. This is seen as factors that increase rates of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial success. Bearse [7] speculated that without TBI, any policy that stimulates R&D would have a limited impact. In this regard, the TBI is seen as a tool of transformation – catalyst in the transformation of small-scale research activities into the economic scale ones.

In Indonesia, there are not many incubators available. It may be said that only one incubator so-named Technology Incubator, because most existing incubators are business ones. It was established in 1996 and located within the National Centre of Research Science and Technology (in Indonesian – PUSPIPTEK), which is now being coordinated under the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (In Indonesian – BPPT). The number of tenants and graduated companies are still far from satisfying and less than 5 per cent annually. Table 4.6 shows the statistics of tenants at the Technology Incubator from 1997 to 2001.

In brief, as noted by Sakya’s study, the incentive schemes have encouraged some interest among researchers. However, the results, in term of economic of scale, are still not encouraging. The number of incubators dealt with the R&D is still far from the ability to push the R&D products into the market. The existing VCs seem to be risky in dealing with the newly found products. An intermediary agent, such as a credit guarantor that facilitate a new established technology-based seems to pose an alternated solution to sustain R&D product in Indonesia [8].

D. Concluding remarks

A brief review on the SME development in Indonesia has been outlined. The S&T activity that related with the growth of SME-based technology has also been drafted. The number of incentive schemes has been initiated by the government as part of the national policy to foster the national system of innovation. The adoption of technology or innovation produced by the schemes is still far from being able to push self penetration of S&T activity into economic scale of activity. But, this can also be connected to the other policies such as small budget of R&D, education and SMEs and cooperatives

REFERENCES

[1] Kaswanto, B.T., Potensi Pengembangan Industri Kecil dan menengah pada Industri Komponen, Majalah Pengkajian Industri No. 7/Agustus/1999, Badan Pengkajian dan Penerapan Teknologi, Hal. 25 – 31.

[2] Sakya, A.E., Promoting Management of Innovation and Technology through Awareness Dissemination Programme for SME based Innovation, APEC International Forum – Economy Globalization and Business Incubators, Beijing – China, 18 – 20 October 2005.

[3] Sudarsa, M.,  Policy on Strengthening SMEs, Seminar on the Perspective of Strengthening Technology within the SME, Jakarta, 3 – 5 March 2005.

[4] Cooper, R.G., Winning at New Product, Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch, Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001.

[5] Assistant to the Deputy for Programme Evaluation, Monitoring and Evaluation of RUT’s and RUK’s Economic Outcomes, Ministry for Research and Technology, Jakarta, 2001.

[6] Schoen, C., Design Principles for the Incentive Structure of Industrial R&D, Assessment Workshop on Design Principles for the Incentive Structure of Industrial R&D, UNDP, March 11, 2002.

[7] Bearse, P., Development of Technology Business Incubators for Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development, UNDP, July 1993.

[8] Sakya, A.E.,  Seeking the Proper VC-s Complementing the Incentives Programme Schemes to Accelerate the Creation of Technopreneurs – Indonesian Case, APEC – Forum – Venture Capitals’ Role in Science Parks and Business Incubators, Xi’an – China, 20 – 23 May 2002.

[ http://www.unescap.org/tid/publication/indpub2435.pdf ]

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Ketahanan Petani Lewat Asuransi Iklim

Andi Eka Sakya

 KETAHANAN biasa diterjemahkan sebagai kekuatan, kemampuan, keuletan dalam menghadapi berbagai ancaman, tantangan, hambatan dan gangguan (ATHG), baik yang datang dari dalam maupun dari luar. Ketahanan Nasional dikaitkan dengan keuletan bangsa dalam ATHG yang mengancam daya hidup bangsa dan kebangsaan. Demikian pula ketahanan petani dapat pula dikonotasikan sebagai kekuatan, kemampuan, dan daya hidup petani menghadapi berbagai ATHG yang mengancam. Dalam arti dinamis, bisa pula diartikan sebagai kecepatan petani dan pertanian untuk bangkit lagi setelah dilumat bencana, seperti: banjir, puso, kekeringan, dan sebagainya.

Dilihat dari perspektif sektorial, kehidupan petani dan sistem pertanian sering dikaitkan dengan empat pilar utama. Yaitu: benih, pupuk, irigasi, dan iklim. Benih atau bibit dihubungkan dengan kesiapan tanam dan kuantitas hasilnya. Pupuk dikaitkan dengan upaya meningkatkan kesuburan tanah bagi proses tumbuh kembang padi. Irigasi mengatur keseimbangan pasokan air terhadap kebutuhan tumbuh kembang tanaman. Dan, iklim merupakan faktor luar sebagai wujud ATHG alami yang dihadapi petani dan pertanian.

Tiga dari empat pilar di atas (kualitas benih, pupuk dan irigasi) secara langsung dapat dikendalikan dengan tata kelola petani dan sistem pertanian. Iklim secara alami jelas di luar kendali petani dan sistem pertanian. Kondisi iklim ini, dengan keniscayaan pemanasan global,  jelas menjadi ancaman yang sangat serius bagi petani dan sistem pertanian.

Ketahanan petani dan sistem pertanian yang mengacu pada empat pilar di atas justru melupakan perihal utama, inti dan pokok unsur ketahanan, yaitu petaninya. Seperti halnya unsur ketahanan nasional, ketahanan petani merupakan gabungan dari berbagai elemen dari sistem pertanian. Namun demikian, daya bangkit petani setelah menghadapi bencana merupakan faktor utama untuk mengawali kembali kegiatannya.

Bagi yang tertimpa bencana, terlebih lagi bagi petani kecil yang hanya mempunyai tanah garap kurang dari satu hektare, persoalan yang dihadapi tidak sekadar bagaimana bangkit, tetapi seberapa cepat bisa memulai aktivitas pertanian mereka. Bantuan sosial sebagai salah satu alternatif pertolongan darurat untuk bertahan hidup, tetapi tidak mencakup keperluan modal untuk memulai kegiatan ekonominya. Pinjaman kredit bank? Jelas jauh dari kemampuan mereka untuk menyediakan agunannya.

Salah satu alternatif yang dapat ditawarkan adalah asuransi indeks cuaca/iklim. Pengganti yang diberikan kepada petani saat panen (berpotensi) gagal. Persoalannya, belum ada perusahaan asuransi yang ”berani” memberikan tawaran skema produk asuransi kegagalan panen. Benarkah? Tampaknya tidak sepenuhnya benar.

Sejatinya pemerintah sudah berusaha banyak dalam mengembangkan produk-produk asuransi bagi para petani. Misalnya di Boyolali untuk peternak sapi, di Jember untuk produk tembakau terhadap kegagalan panen disebabkan hama penyakit. Tetapi, seperti telah disinggung, persoalan kegagalan panen tidak hanya disebabkan hama penyakit.

Fenomena perubahan iklim telah mengubah siklus dan lama waktu musim kering dan hujan, dan menjadi salah satu momok bencana bagi petani. Panen gagal. Produk tanaman kotor. Tanaman puso. Harga anjlok. Semua berdampak pada penghasilan ekonomi, yang pada gilirannya mempengaruhi kemampuan daya-dukung untuk memulai kegiatan ekonomi.

Banjir dapat terjadi di berbagai daerah akan memporak-porandakan harapan petani untuk menikmati hasil panen. Alih-alih bisa membayar seluruh “pinjaman” selama masa tanam, seluruh harapan tersebut hanyut bersama arus deras banjir yang dipicu oleh curah hujan yang tidak terbendung. Beberapa saat menyaksikan derita petani dan para pengungsi banjir terbetik ucapan Menteri Pertanian untuk bisa mencari skema jalan keluar guna membiayai kegiatan para petani, segera setelah banjir selesai. Menarik, karena Menteri Pertanian juga menyinggung pendanaan asuransi.

Di Afrika--dan sekarang dikembangkan di India, China dan Thailand--ternyata telah berkembang skema penyelamatan yang diimpikan oleh Menteri Pertanian di atas. Skema tersebut adalah Asuransi Indeks Cuaca/Iklim (AICI), salah satu produk asuransi berbasis perhitungan indeks yang dihasilkan dari korelasi perubahan cuaca lokal dengan pertumbuhan tanaman di daerah bersangkutan. Proyek yang sejak awal didorong oleh Bank Dunia tersebut, sekarang telah memberikan manfaat sangat besar dalam menumbuhkan harapan dan kepercayaan diri para petani, petambak, dan pekebun di negara-negara yang telah menerapkannya.

Tantangan Penerapannya

Kondisi Indonesia, dari segi musim, sering dikaitkan dengan rumitnya persoalan prakiraan musim. Pertama, letak Indonesia yang tepat di garis khatulistiwa menyebabkan kompleksitas perubahan parameter cuaca/iklim di Indonesia berbeda dengan di negara-negara lain seperti di wilayah subtropika yang lebih teratur dan mudah diprakirakan.

Kedua, kombinasi daratan dan lautan serta dua samudra yang mengapit Indonesia memberikan kontribusi kerumitan prakiraan, baik dari segi informasi atmosferis maupun karakteristik angin. Ketiga, kompleksitas ini semakin diperparah pengaruh pergeseran iklim akibat pemanasan global. Keempat, banyaknya zona awal musim di Indonesia yang mencapai lebih dari 300 wilayah.

Penerapan skema asuransi cuaca di Indonesia, di satu pihak memerlukan pengukuran teliti dan berkualitas. Di pihak lain, diperlukan proses edukasi bagi petani kecil yang selama ini termarginalkan. Untuk memberikan fasilitasi hasil pengukuran curah hujan yang sahih dan dapat dipahami secara adil oleh pihak perusahaan maupun petani, diperlukan: (1) penyajian data yang tepercaya, (2) data tersebut terbaca dan dipahami maknanya oleh kedua belah pihak, (3) perlu perangkat perundangan yang memungkinkan diterapkannya mekanisme aktuaria bagi petani kecil.

Undang-Undang No 31/2009 tentang Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika dapat menjadi landasan pembangunan pengamatan cuaca/iklim agar diperoleh data yang lebih tepercaya. Intermiediasi bagi petani dapat dilakukan dengan cara mendorong percepatan penyebaran penyuluh dan langkah aksi adaptasi perubahan iklim. Tinggal perangkat perundang-undangan untuk mendasari bahwa langkah penerapan Asuransi Indeks Cuaca/Ikim (AICI)-- yang akan memperkokoh ketahanan petani dan sistem pertanian di Indonesia--memperoleh penguatan dan perlindungan untuk penerapannya.

[Jurnal Nasional, Sabtu 31 Desember 2011, Halaman 10]

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Disiplin Sebagai Contoh Perilaku Nasionalistik

Dr. Andi Eka Sakya, M.Eng.

Orang sering mengatakan bahwa lalu lintas di berbagai kota di sebuah negara merupakan cermin yang sangat gamblang untuk melihat kondisi bangsa dari negara tersebut. Kesemrawutan lalu lintas, terutama di kota - kota besar di Indonesia, telah banyak menjadi keluhan tentang kondisi kedisiplinan berlalu lintas di Indonesia. Kesalahan sering ditujukan pada tidak sebandingnya pertumbuhan infra struktur jalan dengan jumlah kendaraan di jalan.

Kondisi berlalu lintas, hanyalah merupakan salah satu aspek untuk memperlihatkan "maturitas" kondisi kebangsaan. Keluhan di atas muncul di berbagai aspek kehidupan yang lain misalnya antrean tiket KA menjelang lebaran atau pertandigan sepak bola, kericuhan yang diikuti dengan kekerasan, perilaku koruptif, dan lain sebagainya. 

Sejarah menunjukkan perkembangan negara-negara maju, yang semula tidak pernah diperkirakan, kemudian muncul dan bangkit menjadi negara macan dunia. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Swiss adalah negara - negara yang 150 tahun yang lalu tidak seterkenal negara-negara "jalur sutera". Bahkan, sumberdaya dan kekayaan alam pun di beberapa negara-negara macan dunia itu hampir bisa dikatakan tidak dipunyai. Mengapa negara-negara tersebut bisa bangkit sebagai macan dunia?

Salah satu aspek kehidupan yang diakui menjadi salah satu faktor penting adalah disiplin. Disiplin diri menurut Wikipedia merupakan perilaku seseorang untuk melakukan sesuatu karena aturan atau kesepakatan tidak boleh dilakukan, walaupun orang tersebut lebih senang melakukan hal yang lain. Secara etimologi, disiplin berasal dari bahasa Latin disibel yang berarti "pengikut". Seiring dengan perkembangan zaman, kata tersebut mengalami perubahan menjadi disipline yang artinya kepatuhan atau yang menyangkut tata tertib. Sebagai contoh, seseorang mungkin saja tidak melakukan sesuatu yang menurutnya memuaskan dan menyenangkan dengan membelanjakan uangnya untuk sesuatu yang ia inginkan dan menyumbangkan uang tersebut kepada organisasi amal dengan anggapan bahwa hal tersebut lebih penting.

Salah satu kedisiplinan diri yang sangat menyentuh ditunjukkan oleh bangsa Jepang di daerah Sendai saat  terjadi tsunami. Saat itu tim penyelamat dari Kedutaan Besar Indonesia sedang berkendara mobil dari Tokyo menuju Sendai untuk membantu tugas penyelamatan korban tsunami. Mobil yang dikendarai sudah mulai kehabisan bahan bakar. Setiap stasiun BBM yang ditemui mendekati daerah bencana selalu saja dipenuhi antrean yang sangat panjang lebih dari 1 km. Di stasiun BBM terakhir, petugas dari KBRI memutuskan untuk ikut antre. Jika tidak dilakukan maka perjalanan akan terhambat. Petugas BBM selalu memonitor agar antrean tetap berjalan tertib dan memastikan bahwa cadangan BBM terpenuhi untuk setiap kendaraan ikut dalam antrean.

Saat petugas BBM melihat tim dari KBRI untuk penyelamatan korban tsunami, mereka mendekat dan mengarahkan kendaraan untuk mendahului antrean sambil memohon maaf agar Tim Penyelamat dari KBRI diberi kesempatan. Dalam salah satu laporan di sebuah surat kabar Indonesia, disebutkan bahwa orang-orang yang mengantre tidak menjadi marah. Mereka justru memberi kesempatan kendaraan Tim Penyelamat Indonesia untuk mendapatkan BBM yang cukup, tidak timbul keresahan dan tidak satu ucapan keluhan yang muncul. Justru ketika Tim Penyelamat Indonesia tersebut meninggalkan stasiun BBM setelah mendapatkan jatah yang cukup, petugas dan yang antre mengucapkan terima kasih. Kenyataan ini membuat salah satu anggota tim mencucurkan airmatanya sambil berbisik: "Bisakah itu terjadi di Indonesia?" Seorang wartawan mencatat hal tersebut dan melaporkan bahwa orang - orang Jepang betapa pun beratnya kondisi yang dihadapinya saat bencana tejadi mereka masih berterima kasih bahwa ternyata Indonesia telah membantu melalui Tim Penyelamat tersebut.

Kedisiplinan sering dikaitkan dengan kedewasaan. Kedewasaan diri sendiri dan kedewasaan sebagai warga bangsa. Kedisiplinan tidak bisa diperoleh tanpa berlatih. Kondisi terbaik dari pelatihan kedisiplinan adalah di rumah. Namun demikian, betapa pun baiknya kedisiplinan di rumah dilatih, tetapi contoh perilaku warga bangsa di dalam kehidupan riil menjadi rujukan riil dan praktis bagi generasi penerus. Oleh karenanya, jika kedisiplinan tersebut dapat diberlakukan dengan baik dan konsisten di rumah, sekolah dan  masyarakat, di perkantoran pemda, perusahaan, DPR, Kementerian, dan dijalanan, maka pertumbuhan Indonesia yang sudah bagus dalam dua tahun terakhir ini, akan memberikan kontribusi yang mempercepat bagi kebangkitan Indonesia menjelang 2020 nanti. Semoga.

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CLOUD COMPUTING AND DISASTER INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN INDONESIA

Dr. Andi E. Sakya, 

Director General of Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics, Indonesia, writes about data integration challenges faced by the agency and how cloud computing could be a possible solution.

The Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (in bahasa Indonesia, BMKG) collects data on weather, climate and earthquakes from more than 200 observation stations all over Indonesia. Weather, climate and earthquake data is dependent on geographic position, is time sensitive, and often relates to global phenomena. Effective collection of this data enables BMKG to provide weather, climate, earthquake and tsunami information services to Indonesian government departments, businesses and citizens.

In addition to these above main functions, recently BMKG has been appointed by UNESCO as one of the Regional Tsunami Service Providers together with India and Australia, and also appointed by World Meteorological Organisation as a Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre (TCWC).

Integrating multiple datasets

To give an example of the volume of data that BMKG processes - every two hours each of the 200 observation stations transmits raw data through telecommunication system to the headquarters in Jakarta. At the headquarters the data was stored in the database, and then integrated and processed with the data from the other observational stations and combined with data from other observation equipment such as satellite, radar, and automatic weather stations to produce weather and climate predictions.

Both daily operational as well as international assignments require BMKG to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As required by law, the information we create has to be disseminated quickly, accurately, broadly, and comprehensibly.

The 2004 tsunami highlighted both the importance of the information created by BMKG, and also the necessity of getting this information into the hands of policy makers quickly. Back then it took more than an hour to share earthquake data, but since the Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (InaTEWS) was set up in 2008 it now takes less than five minutes. By 2015, further improvements to data transmission, storage, and integration are anticipated with the Integrated Support for Early Warning Systems.

Addressing challenges with cloud computing

Our challenge in establishing such an integrated data centre lies in the fact that the time periods of measurement for weather, climate, earthquakes and tsunamis are quite different - a tsunami’s period of occurrence is around 200 years, whereas seasonal climate is about 30 years and weather is measured every two hours. Therefore, we need to be able to handle historical datasets and new data simultaneously.

Moreover, being located on the Ring of Fire, Indonesia is prone to multiple forms of natural disasters, with tsunamis occurring once every two years. Currently, we have two data recovery centres in Denpasar, Bali, one each for the TCWC and InaTEWS.

Cloud computing technology seems to pose an interesting solution to the problems above. It provides an elastic and affordable repository for data integration, while its distributive nature overcomes Indonesia’s limitations of geography.

From the operational point of view, cloud computing allows multiple users to easily feed in data in real-time. Furthermore, interoperability of cloud computing facilitates the various types of existing systems to operate together.

On the other end, it also widens possibilities and provides mobility to our information delivery channels. The information we collect is made available to the public directly through our website and through social media. Indonesia being an archipelago of 17,000 islands, it is crucial that citizens can access the information from any location, at any time and from any kind of device that they use.

Since our agency operates 24/7, implementation of the new cloud-based system without distracting our daily operation is important, and a major challenge that remains to be solved.

[http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2013/oct/07/cloud-computing-and-disaster-information-managemen/]

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NYEPI, KOTO TABANG dan PERUBAHAN IKLIM

Andi Eka Sakya

Di dalam laporan mereka yang keempat, The lntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) menegaskan keniscayaan pemanasan global yang telah mendorong teriadinya perubahan iklim. Sebab utamanya ialah naiknya konsentrasi gas rumah kaca yang diproduksi manusia, baik secara industri maupun kegiatan lainnya, tidak mampu lagi diserap alam secara seimbang. 

Betapa pun, pemanasan global perlu memperhatikan dua parameter, yaitu kenaikan suhu dan konsentrasi gas

rumah kaca (GRK) di atmosfer. Tentang suhu permukaan ini, IPCC telah menegaskan agar manusia menjaga  jangan sampai kenaikan suhu permukaan melebihi 8 derajat. Untuk konsentrasi GRK harus dijaga agar kenaikannya tidak melebihi 450 ppm sejak masa awal zaman industrialisasi. Mengapa demikian? Secara khusus, Morrigan (2010) menyebutkan bahwa pada saat konsentrasi terukur CO2 ambien di atmosfer mencapai melebihi 450 ppm, bumi manusia akan terdorong pada ambang batas kemampuan dinamikanya untuk menahan bencana yang maha dahsyat dan di luar kapasitas manusia untuk menghadapinya. Planet bumi mencapai kondisi ice-free planet. 

Repotnya, jika suhu permukaan bisa secara lanngsung dan mudah dapat diamati dan diukur secara langsung, konsentrasi GRK tidak. Oleh karenanya, kenaikan suhu permukaan itu juga sudah sering dilaporkan. Di lain pihak kenaikan lonsentrasi GRK tidak banyak diamati diukur dan dilaporkan. Itu karena konsentrasi GRK atau CO2 di atmosfer tidak mudah diukur, persyaratan pengukurannya pun sangat strict. GRK yang diukur dalam kondisi ambien dan merupakan konsentrasi CO2 yang telah sangat lama terdapat di dalam almosfer

dan bercampur dengan gas - gas  di atmosfer lainnva. Untuk itu, diperlukan lokasi yang jauh dari hiruk pikuk pengaruh kegiatan manusia, dan proses analisis pembandingan yang rumit. 

Di dunia, paling tidak terdapat 29 stasiun pemantau global yang salah satu tugasnya mengukur konsentrasi CO2 ambien di atmosfir. Salah satunya terdapat di Bukit Koto Tabang, Bukittinggi, Sumatra Barat.  Untuk menjembatani keterbatasan data tersebut IPCC sering melakukan pendekatan secara modeling, asumsi, prakiraan, dan proyeksi. 

Pengaruh Manusia 

Nyepi adalah hari raya umat Hindu untuk menandai tahun baru Saka. Pada saat itu umat Hindu di Bali tidak

diperkenankan melakukan aktivitas apapun selama 24 jam. Bahkan, bandara pun ditutup selama 24 jam. Bali saat itu menjadi medan tanpa aktivitas, lahan tanpa manusia, atmosfer murni tanpa pengaruh anthropogenic. Bali saat Nyepi dan Bali saat hari hari biasa--dalam perspektif pemanasan global dan gas rumah kaca--merupakan gambaran kontras antara menghilangnya pengaruh aktivitas manusia dan situasi yang terpengaruh oleh kegiatan anthropogenic. 

Pengamatan GRK di Bali (beberapa kota) pada saat Nyepi, dan perbandingannya dengan Bali pada hari - hari biasa, akan menunjukkan besarnya pengaruh aktivitas manusia terhadap alam dan kontribusinya pada pertumbuhan gas rumah kaca, terutama CO2. Kondisi itu oleh BMKG telah dimanfaatkan untuk membuktikan bahwa pengamatan secara langsung pada saat Nyepi dan bukan Nyepi. Hasilnya menunjukkan pengaruh  anthropogenic pada kenaikan konsentrasi GRK mencapai 33%. 

Bukit Koto Tabang adalah noktah kecil di Sumatera Barat (Kabupaten Agam) tepat di garis khatulistiwa. Hutan petai yang rimbun telah menyembunyikan noktah kecil itu dari pengaruh aktivitas manusia. Sepi. Sunyi.

Entah wangsit apa yang menjadikan Emil Salim (saat menjadi menteri lingkungan hidup) dan Azwar Anas (menteri perhubungan) pada 1996 memilih Bukit Koto Tabang untuk lokasi pengamatan GRK. Pilihan itu tidak salah, manakala pada tahun 2007 perhatian tentang pemanasan global dan dampaknya pada perubahan iklim semakin menjadi keniscayaan, dan perhatian dunia dan laporan IPCC telah mengantar pada diperolehnya Hadiah Nobel. 

Pertumbuhan Kota Padang dan Bukittinggi ternyata juga tidak menjadikan Bukit Koto Tabang lokasi wisata yang menarik. Rerimbunan pohon petai menyembunyikan silent activity para pengamat GRK dari gerak ekonomi Bukittinggi dan PAdang. Kondisi itu menjadikan Koto Tabang merupakan lokasi yang ideal untuk pengukuran GRK. Lebih - lebih posisinya tepat di khatulistiwa, sehingga Koto Tabang sangat unik. 

Keputusan 1996 untuk menetapkan Koto Tabang sebagai satu - satunya lokasi global atmospheric watch (stasiun pemantau global/GAW) di Indonesia dan salah satu dari 29 GAW yang di dunia, telah menarik perhatian dunia. Hasil - hasil pengamatan GAW di Koto Tabang --yang praktis secara aktif dioperasikan oleh BMKG baru sejak 2004 dan dikirimkan ke Badan Meteorologi Dunia melalui Pusat Data Dunia untuk GRK di Jepang-- ternyata sangat diapresiasi. 

Bukan hanya karena datanya sangat akurat, tetapi juga kontinuitasnya hingga saat ini. Itu terlihat dari hasil pengamatan konsentrasi GRK ambien di Koto Tabang di bawah hasil pengamatan GRK di Mauna Loa, Hawaii, sejak 2004 hingga 2013. Itu menunjukkan bahwa Indonesia memang bukan negara pemboros emisi. Namun, tidak berarti Indonesia tidak mengalami pengaruh perubahan iklim karena perubahan iklim merupakan fenomena global. Peran aktif Indonesia dalam proses mitigasi dan adaptasi perubahan iklim diperlukan. Hal itu juga disadari bahwa Indonesia termasuk wilayah terdampak negatif dan menderita akibat perubahan iklim. 

Presiden Yudhoyono pada 2009 saat berpidato di COP di Kopenhagen mengatakan bahwa Indonesia akan menjadi negara terdepan dalam menginisiasi aksi penurunan konsentrasi GRK dan menargetkan turun 26% hingga 2020 dalam kondisi business as usual. Niat itu didukung Rencana Aksi Nasional Mitigasi dan Adaptasi Perubahan Iklim. Jika saat ini Presiden menanyakan sudah seberapa jauh niat penurunan emisi GRK tersebut kita capai, data Koto Tabang dapat menjawabnya secara faktual, terukur, dan dapat dipertanggungjawabkan. 

Insya Allah

Media Indonesia Sabtu / 2l September 2013 / hal.8 

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