JAKARTA: Indonesia’s ambitious plan to integrate the government’s 27,000 apps into a single platform will bring convenience to its citizens, but experts warn that data security should not be an afterthought.
The government should consider factoring in cyber-security safeguards in the platform from the get-go, these observers told The Straits Times, to minimise large-scale data leaks which have plagued Indonesia’s digital services.
Having a single platform to streamline digital services has been a long time coming, President Joko Widodo pointed out during its launch on May 27.
With ministers and officials in attendance at the Presidential Palace, he stressed how the government should aim to ease access to its services for the citizens’ convenience.
“But how can it be easy when ministries, government bodies and regional administrations have more or less 27,000 applications? 27,000 platforms that all run on their own and work on their own?” asked Widodo.
INA Digital – as this single platform initiative is called – aims to make accessing government services online easier for Indonesians, including applying for official documents such as permits for public assembly and driving licences.
As in the case with Singapore’s Singpass, the INA Digital app will provide Indonesians with one single system for signing in to use apps from multiple ministries or government bodies without having to repeatedly input their details.
Indonesia hopes that this will eventually halt the use of public funds to develop unnecessary apps.
Widodo decided in 2024 to stop the allocation of IDR 6.2 trillion (S$519 million) from the state budget for app development.
But beyond the obvious benefits of convenience and cost-effectiveness, INA Digital is an opportunity for Indonesia to ensure a safer digital experience for its people.
“There is a sense of frustration, if not hopelessness, with the way the Indonesian government stewards the personal data of our population,” said Muhammad Habib Abiyan Dzakwan from Indonesian think-tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“And this fatigue reaches the point that no one is surprised when personal data, collected by the government or state-owned enterprises, is leaked or breached,” he added.
In November 2023, a hacker known as Jimbo reportedly breached Indonesia’s General Elections Commission’s database and put voters’ personal data up for sale on black market forums.
This came after another notorious hacker known as Bjorka allegedly leaked the data of 35 million Indonesian passport holders in July that year.
Bjorka was also responsible for 2022’s leak of some 3.2 billion data entries on users of Indonesia’s official Covid-19 contact tracing app PeduliLindungi, now known as SatuSehat.
INA Digital must strictly adopt certain international norms and ethical standards when it comes to personal data, stressed Habib.
“The public will indeed be thankful if they have more integrated public services, but it will not look good if the data managers and officers are not careful with sensitive data such as personal medical records or banking records.”
Beltsazar Krisetya, who is also from CSIS, pointed out that while integrating digital services will bring benefits to people, data will still be stored by individual ministries and organisations.
INA Digital could be a good chance for the government to standardise how it protects such information, added Beltsazar, who is the principal researcher at CSIS’ Safer Internet Lab
“We must ensure that the ministries, with their varying levels of compliance and implementation (of cybersecurity), safeguard data with the same protocols,” he said.
INA Digital is not yet a done deal, and State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir said on May 27 that some 400 people are developing the app. He added that trials for it will start in September.
But beyond in-built app protections, what Indonesia needs to prevent data breaches is to intensify public campaigns to educate people on how to protect their information, said Habib.
He added that these efforts to educate should not just target urban residents, but also those residing in rural areas, underdeveloped regions and island communities, since they might not even be aware of such digital services.
“Even if they are aware, the next question is whether they have sufficient digital infrastructure to use the app. A whole-of-nation approach must be used in campaigning for the so-called new digital initiative,” added Habib. - The Straits Times/ANN
