“Improved human resources for an advanced Indonesia” were the words that caught the attention of the audience when displayed on a big banner spread across a stage on which Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati was seen dancing with her staff to celebrate Indonesia's 74th year of independence.

After decades of reliance on natural products, from spices, palm oil and raw ore to oil, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reiterated his commitment to break Indonesia away from the “natural resources curse” and focus on human development.

For that intention, the government has allocated tens of billions of dollars from the proposed 2020 state budget that carries the theme “state budget for competitiveness acceleration through innovation and empowerment of human resources quality”, the President said in his state of the union address on Friday.

The human capital budget will be disbursed through various channels including the Education and Culture Ministry, Manpower Ministry, Health Ministry and regional fund transfers. Programs include subsidies for students, endowment funds for education, research and culture funds, training for the unemployed as well as universal healthcare insurance and stunting reduction acceleration programs.

“Armed with innovation, quality human resources and technological proficiency, we can break away from the natural resources curse,” said Jokowi in front of policymakers and lawmakers at the House of Representatives on Friday, dressed in royal Sasak attire.

The shift to human capital has seen an increased budget allocation for education by 5.72 percent year-on-year to Rp 505.8 trillion in 2020, health by 13 percent to Rp 132.2 trillion and social protection by 4.3 percent to Rp 385.3 trillion, Finance Ministry data shows.

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