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Regions to have unique creative economy road map by year-end

The Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) expects to help every regional administration create its own “creative economy road map” by December, which marks the deadline for phase one of the agency’s economic development plan

Norman Harsono (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, July 17, 2019

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Regions to have unique creative economy road map by year-end

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span>The Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) expects to help every regional administration create its own “creative economy road map” by December, which marks the deadline for phase one of the agency’s economic development plan.

In other words, Bekraf has five months left to create 34 provincial road maps and 514 city and regency road maps that define specific deadlines and quotas for each region’s creative industry, as mandated under Presidential Regulation No. 142/2018 on Bekraf’s economic development plan up to 2025.

Bekraf’s undersecretary for intragovernmental and interregional relations, Endah Wahyu Sulistianti, told reporters on Monday that the agency’s strategy to meet the deadline hinged on efforts by the administrations of Riau and West Java.

She was referring to Riau Governor Syamsuar, who issued a regional bylaw on the creative economy in 2015, and West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, who is slated to issue a similar bylaw for his province in two weeks.

“We will first do pilot testing in West Java and Riau. They have the regulations, so we can [draft a road map] faster. This will motivate other regions to follow suit,” she said after a briefing on the presidential regulation in Jakarta.

Under the regulation, Indonesia’s creative economy revolves around 16 industries, which include video games, fashion, interior design, architecture, music and culinary arts. The government promotes such tertiary industries to reduce the national economy’s reliance on raw materials and manufacturing.

To support the local music industry in particular, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo met local-gone-global hip-hop artist Brian Imanuel Soewarno, whose stage name is Rich Brian, at the Bogor Palace in West Java earlier this month.

Bekraf head Triawan Munaf mentioned Brian’s case on Monday as an example of the potential of Indonesia’s creative economy, which is expected to grow to Rp 1.21 trillion (US$86 million) this year, up 9.6 percent from Rp 1.10 trillion last year, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).

Hassan Abud, director of intragovernmental relations at Bekraf, said Article 7 of the presidential regulation was instrumental in meeting the deadline, as it essentially institutionalized Bekraf as the go-to government body in coordinating regional creative economy growth.

Article 7 states that regional administrations and a “nonministerial government body”, which refers to Bekraf, were in charge of planning, executing, monitoring and evaluating creative economy programs.

Endah explained that, prior to the regulation, the responsibility for the creative economy rested with the Tourism Ministry, which had treated it as a “peripheral” matter.

“Before the regulation, [Bekraf] would bind regional administrations through memorandums of understanding. They could work with us, but now, they have the [legal] instruction to coordinate with us,” she said.

Going forward, Endah and Triawan said the agency was expecting the House of Representatives to ratify a creative economy bill, possibly as early as August, which would become the permanent legal basis for Bekraf to coordinate such economic activity.

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution, who attended Monday’s briefing, added that it was nevertheless important for Bekraf and regional administrations to work with the ministries of tourism, trade and industry in developing the creative economy.

“[The creative economy] is a blend of art, culture, industry and trade. Art cannot stand alone. If it stands alone, it’s what we call pure arts,” he said

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