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Government prepares national talent management body to nurture 'super-talented' Indonesians
The government is planning to create a national talent management body in 2020 in an effort to enhance human capacity development.
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Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko addresses the press at the Executive Office of the President in Jakarta. (JP/Eisya Eloksari)
T
he government is planning to create a national talent management body this year in an effort to enhance human capacity development, which the President said was at the top of the agenda in his second term.
Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said on Dec. 23 that the body, called National Talent Management (MTN), would gather data on talented Indonesians who have yet to be managed properly.
“Super-talented Indonesians are still scattered everywhere and have yet to be managed well. It is our job to manage,” he said during a press conference after a ministerial meeting at the Executive Office of the President in Jakarta.
By July next year, data on talented individuals in priority sectors, which include the arts, science and sport, would be compiled, Moeldoko added.
He went on to say that the government was still deciding on the grand design and had not entered into detailed preparations, such as determining the talent criteria and selecting who would manage the agency.
Moeldoko said there were three options for the set-up of the MTN, which would be managed by a new agency under a ministry or by creating a task force.
"Soon we will hold a limited meeting, and the President will decide on the form of national talent management," he said.
According to presentation material shown to the press, in the research and industry sector, the MTN would use data to recruit people and give them scholarships so that they could develop research-based products.
Moeldoko said that this talent management plan was formed because Indonesia lagged behind other countries in terms of macro indicators, having placed 72nd in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and 116th in the Human Development Index (HDI).
Meanwhile, Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim expressed hopes over the MTN not only supporting economic growth but also instilling confidence in young talents.
"The initiative to nurture and appreciate national talent is important because there are many talented young people who we have yet to know or see,” he said. “Supporting them […] is good for the nation's self-confidence as it achieves its dreams."
The idea for a national talent management body was mentioned by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo when he gave his first political speech after his reelection in July. He then said he would create an “Indonesian talent management institution” that would “facilitate and support education and self-improvement for Indonesia's talents”.
Jokowi said the body would also support talented members of the diaspora so that they could contribute to Indonesia's development.
“We will create a special institution to manage these great talents who can make this country globally competitive,” he said.
Human development is central to Jokowi's second-term agenda, as the President said in his inaugural speech in August that Indonesians should have world-class level human capital to expand the country's influence in international markets, putting forward reforms in the education system and vocational schools so that the Indonesia Onward Cabinet could realize the vision.
