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Indonesia seeks to persuade diaspora to come home
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Each diaspora gathering has included extraordinary sharing by members of their experiences, aspirations and ideas for the country according to their varied interests and professions. (Shutterstock/File)
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iving abroad for the next five or 10 years in order to build a career before eventually returning to Indonesia is the aspiration of Fadhil Saptady, a 26-year-old Indonesian entrepreneur in Turkey.
He is one of more than 6 million Indonesians in the diaspora across the globe and among those who have been tasting the fruits of living overseas by running a hospitality business. First arriving in Turkey as a student in 2012, Fadhil decided to open an Indonesian restaurant six years later in Istanbul.
“I want to develop myself abroad and then come back to Indonesia to [contribute] to economic development,” he told The Jakarta Post recently.
In the past few years, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has been calling on Indonesians abroad to return home and utilize their experience to help build the nation. And in his first speech since reelection in October 2019, he repeated the call, pledging to support the diaspora through the establishment of an institution to pool the talents of diaspora members who can contribute to Indonesia's development. It is in line with the President’s new ambition to elevate the human capital of Indonesia in the years to come.
Following his reelection, Jokowi seemed to become even more fascinated with the diaspora by including young foreign-educated figures in his administration, including 35-year-old Nadiem Makarim, the founder of the unicorn startup Gojek, who is now the Education and Culture Minister and the youngest minister in the Cabinet. Jokowi also appointed seven youngsters with the age range of 23 to 36 -- many of whom are foreign graduates -- to the 12-member presidential expert staff to provide innovative ideas in his ambition of improving human capital.
Christina Aryani, a Golkar Party lawmaker who serves on the House of Representatives commission overseeing foreign affairs, said the diaspora could indeed be an asset – bringing human skills, capital and network that can strengthen the economy.
By 2030, while about 23 million jobs could be replaced by automation, a projected 27 to 40 million new jobs will be created over the same period if Indonesians learn new skills -- of these jobs, around 10 million jobs will be new types of occupations, according to a McKinsey & Company report.
