2 WEDNESDAY July 27, 2022
HEADLINES
Youth empowerment must not stop at the boardroom
L
ast week, Youth 20, the
forum for young peo-
ple from the Group of
20 member countries,
brought future young leaders
together to discuss how to re-
build the youth agenda beyond
COVID-19.
For myself, tasked with over-
seeing and managing Indonesia’s
vast network of state-owned en-
terprises (SOEs), the timing of
this meeting could not have been
more appropriate.
According to the World Bank,
62 countries around the world
will experience demographic bo-
nuses, during which the working-
age population outnumbers the
dependent population. This rep-
resents a significant source of po-
tential development if managed
appropriately.
Indonesia is one such country
where millennials and Gen Z al-
ready make up the largest share of
the population today, amounting
to 145 million people, or around
52 percent of the population.
As an emerging market, In-
donesia is on track to becoming
Komnas HAM digs deeper into
fatal shooting of policeman
Commission gathers information from officer involved in fatal shooting
Nur Janti and Dio Suhenda
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Government-sanctioned inde-
pendent body the National Com-
mission on Human Rights (Kom-
nas HAM) is digging deeper into
the death of police officer Nopry-
ansyah Yosua Hutabarat — also
known as Brig. J — which has been
shrouded in disputed claims.
Komnas HAM grilled on Tues-
day Second Agent (Bharada) E,
who, according to a previous po-
lice account of the incident, was
acting in self-defense in the ex-
change of fire with Yosua at the
residence of the police’s inter-
nal affairs chief Insp. Gen. Ferdy
Sambo in Jakarta in early July.
E and Yosua had been on duty
as personal secretary to Ferdy
and chauffeur to Ferdy’s wife,
respectively.
The commission has also ques-
tioned five other aides de camp,
and a forensics team from the Na-
tional Police Hospital in Jakarta,
which previously performed an
autopsy on Yosua.
The probe by Komnas HAM is
not a criminal investigation, but is
expected to shed light on Yosua’s
death amid the discovery of a se-
ries of irregularities surrounding
the case and the police account
of the incident, which has raised
public suspicion that the police
had attempted to cover up facts.
The commission will make
recommendations based on the
results of its investigation.
Previously, Komnas HAM re-
fused a police proposal to ex-
ternally aid a special team that
was formed to look into the fatal
shooting. The commission in-
stead launched an independent
investigation.
It has now gathered essen-
tial information from the foren-
sic investigators that will help
establish what really happened
to Yosua and the chronology of
the incident.
“We now have a firmer [de-
scription of ] when and where
Yosua died,” Komnas HAM com-
missioner Choirul Anam said
on Monday, adding that it would
share this information with inde-
pendent forensic experts.
The commission will also look
into evidence gathered by the po-
lice, such as communication re-
cords and footage from CCTV
Four ACT executives named suspects in embezzlement
Nur Janti
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The police have named four top
executives of popular humani-
tarian-organization Aksi Cepat
Tanggap (ACT) as suspects for
several crimes, including chari-
ty-fund embezzlement and mon-
ey laundering.
The National Police’s special-
economic-crime deputy direc-
tor Sr. Comr. Helfi Assegaf said
on Monday that the police have
named ACT founder and ACT
chairman Ahyudin, foundation
board-members Heryana Her-
main and Novariadi Imam Ak-
bari as well as ACT president
Ibnu Hajar as suspects.
The police have said it was
looking into at least three alleged
crimes. The first one is the al-
leged embezzlement of compen-
sation funds received by some
an advanced and high-income
country through the momentum
generated by this demographic
dividend. By 2045, Indonesia is
projected to be the world’s fourth
largest economy and to welcome a
demographic bonus of 65 percent.
Coming from a business back-
ground, I know the risks of ig-
noring this perspective when key
business decisions are taken. As a
Cabinet minister, I know the val-
ue of tapping into the enormous
potential of this demographic
shift. If we fail to do so, our col-
lective targets for economic
growth and societal progress will
remain unmet.
This is why one of the priority
targets for SOEs is to increase the
number of millennial leaders in
the boardroom from 5 percent in
2021 to 10 percent in 2023. The
reason for this is threefold.
First, millennials will bring a
new work culture that is more
adaptive to change. The pandem-
ic has taught us that the younger
generation is able to adapt quick-
ly to disruptions in various busi-
ness lines. From technological
Seeking truth: Second Agent (Bharada) E (left), the adjutant of inactive National Police internal affairs
chief Insp. Gen. Ferdy Sambo, enters a room upon arriving at the headquarters of the National Commis-
sion on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in South Jakarta on Tuesday. E was questioned over the alleged
shootout on July 8 at Ferdy’s residence that led to the death of Brig. Nopryansyah Yosua Hutabarat.
cameras, and summon the police
forensic investigators who ran
ballistics testing.
Police probe
After concluding a prelimi-
nary probe last week, the police
launched a full investigation into
allegations made by Yosua’s fam-
ily that his death had been the
result of premeditated murder.
But investigators have yet to re-
veal the evidence that prompted
their investigation, nor have they
named a suspect in the case.
Their formal investigation
started a day after President
Joko “Jokowi” Widodo once
again called for a thorough and
transparent probe.
According to the previous po-
lice account of the incident, Yo-
sua was confronted by E after the
latter heard the screams of Fer-
dy’s wife coming from the bed-
room after Yosua allegedly tried
to assault her. Police said Yosua
families of the deadly crash of
Lion Air flight JT-610, which was
donated to ACT.
The downed aircraft, a brand-
new Boeing 737 MAX 8, crashed
into the Java Sea on Oct. 29, 2018
shortly after taking off for a flight
from Jakarta to Bangka Belitung
Islands, killing all 189 passengers
and crew members on board.
The second is allegation of
charity-fund misuse as report-
ed by the Financial Transaction
Reports and Analysis Centre
(PPATK).
“The third one is the allega-
tion of ACT using new compa-
nies as shell corporations,” spe-
cial economic crime director
Brig. Gern. Whisnu Hermawan
said last week.
Whisnu said the police alleged
the companies were set up for
money-laundering purposes.
A broad investigation into the
INSIGHT
Erick Thohir
State-Owned Enterprises Minister
advancement to new customer
preferences, any enterprise must
be acutely aware of the disrup-
tive business practices emerging
across the world.
In order to make SOEs more
adaptive to these disruptions,
we need to include the younger
generation’s fresh perspective in
the boardroom, where business
decisions are made.
Second, SOEs are the vehi-
cles through which government
policy and globally agreed pri-
orities can be implemented with
impact at scale. Empowering the
next generation and future work-
force is a G20 priority as well as a
national priority.
By directly providing ah op-
portunity to influence decision-
making in the boardroom, we are
ensuring that millennials are not
drew his firearm first and fired at
E before being killed in the shoot-
out. Before the incident, Yosua
had escorted the family on a trip
from Magelang, Central Java, to
Jakarta.
Yosua’s family, however, chal-
lenged this account, suggesting
that his death had been premedi-
tated given the many lacerations
and bruises they claimed to have
found on his body.
A lawyer representing Yosua’s
family in Jambi said recently that
Yosua had received death threats
from June until the day before
his death.
The police are still examin-
ing footage from CCTV cameras
along the route from Magelang
to Jakarta on the day of Yosua’s
death and footage that recorded
the surroundings of Ferdy’s resi-
dence, which “can reveal clear-
ly the construction of the case”,
spokesman Insp. Gen. Dedi Pra-
setyo said.
nonprofit has been opened fol-
lowing a July 2 Tempo exposé
that alleged that ACT had misap-
propriated charitable funds for
the benefit of top executives and
for expenses unrelated to the or-
ganization’s philanthropic activ-
ities.
ACT is one of the country’s
most successful charities, having
collected Rp 519 billion (US$6.7
million) in donations in 2020
alone.
Earlier this month, the PPATK
froze 60 accounts affiliated with
the organization at 33 financial
institutions. In a review that
PPATK began in 2018, it discov-
ered transactions worth Rp 30
billion made between ACT and
a company owned by one of its
founders.
It also found indications that
ACT had failed to use funds it
had collected from donors for
only part of the discussion, but
also part of the solution. Includ-
ing their voices in the decision-
making process early on is not a
token gesture, but a calculated
high-yield investment toward
generating sustainable transfor-
mation by nurturing successors
and future leaders.
Finally, SOEs are advancing In-
donesia’s digital transformation,
with 20 percent of all workers at
SOEs “Digital Talent Ready” by
2024. These workers will play a
central role in developing Indo-
nesia’s digital infrastructure and
digital economy ecosystem.
To realize this, the input from
leaders who can bring more in-
novative and creative ideas to the
boardroom is key. Furthermore,
the bulk of the workforce driving
this development will come from
Antara/M. Risyal Hidayat
Questions were previously
raised over the police claim that
not a single CCTV camera at Fer-
dy’s residence was operating at
the time of the incident. But Dedi
reaffirmed that CCTV cameras
inside the house were broken.
Second autopsy
A team of experts will exhume
Yosua’s body, now buried in his
hometown in Jambi, and conduct
a second autopsy on Wednesday.
But it remains unclear wheth-
er the team will be fully indepen-
dent, as demanded by Yosua’s
family, or whether the police will
be involved in the process.
Indonesian Military (TNI)
commander Gen. Andika Perkasa
has pledged publicly to offer help,
saying he was willing to send the
military’s best forensic medical
examiners for a second autopsy.
The Jambi Police are deploying
330 officers to secure the planned
second autopsy on Yosua’s body.
their stated purpose. The PPATK
said the nonprofit allegedly used
the donations to generate profit
instead of disbursing them as in-
tended.
The Social Affairs Ministry
has also revoked ACT’s charita-
ble-collection license, contend-
ing that it violated a regulation
stipulating that licensed entities
may use a maximum 10 percent
of their charitable funds to cover
operating costs. (dre)
Correction
The sixth paragraph of our Insight article
titled “The G20 Summit, ASEAN and Indo-
nesia” published on Tuesday should have
read: “His most recent initiative to make
the ASEAN+3 an important intermedi-
ate regional body is brilliant, […].” We
apologize for the mistake.
— EDITOR
our youth talent pool. It is vital
that they are led and inspired by
leaders who are also their peers.
Directly employing young
leaders in the boardroom is just
one aspect of what needs to be
done to generate future business
leaders. SOEs provide training, fi-
nancing and access to the market
for youths and women to develop
into new entrepreneurs and cre-
ate new jobs in Indonesia. For in-
stance, our micro credit program,
Mekaar, has grown SMEs and cre-
ated more than 7 million jobs dur-
ing the pandemic. Our entrepre-
neurship development programs
have a proven trickle-down effect
on creating new opportunities
and new leaders.
Youths can be pioneers in ad-
vancing their nation. Back in
2013, when I acquired Inter Mi-
lan, one of the world’s top soc-
cer clubs, no one expected that a
young Indonesian man could be-
come the club’s president. I was
trying to be a pioneer and pre-
pare a sustainable sports industry
ecosystem.
Nowadays, more and more
Calls grow for second round
of booster vaccinations
Dio Suhenda
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Calls for the government to start
administering a fourth jab of the
COVID-19 vaccine have grown
amid threats of new subvariants
and revised predictions over the
peak of the current transmission
wave, although officials are hold-
ing out until mandatory booster
shot coverage rises.
The Health Ministry and the
Indonesian Technical Advisory
Group on Immunization (ITA-
GI) are mulling the potential of
rolling out a second round of CO-
VID-19 booster shots, although a
ministry spokesman said it was
not a priority considering that
health authorities were still fo-
cused on expanding coverage of
the third vaccination shot rollout.
“Regarding a fourth vaccine
shot, or a second booster, we have
not made that a priority just yet,”
M. Syahril said on Monday, as
quoted by Kompas.com.
“We are still focusing on [admin-
istering mandatory shots for] those
aged 18 and above, and we haven’t
even [begun] for those under 18.”
A few days earlier, Syahril said
the ministry and ITAGI had con-
sidered planning a rollout of
the second booster shot, citing a
growing trend among other na-
tions and a prediction that the
COVID-19 pandemic “might take
longer than expected”.
He did not respond to further
queries on the matter.
In the meantime, health ex-
perts are supportive of talks to
start rolling out second booster
jabs as soon as possible, partic-
ularly for the more vulnerable
members of the public, which in-
cludes health and public service
workers, the elderly and people
with other underlying illnesses.
The Indonesian Medical As-
sociation (IDI) told The Jakar-
ta Post on Monday that it would
support an immediate push for
a second booster rollout because
of waning immunity, but said
it should only be accessible to
vulnerable groups.
“A first booster dose is neces-
sary to provide additional protec-
tion for most of the public, but a
second booster is now really nec-
essary for vulnerable groups,”
IDI COVID-19 Task Force head
Zubairi Djoerban said on Monday.
“The simplest way to imple-
ment a second booster rollout is
to give it to people at high risk of
being exposed to the virus, who
had their booster shot last year.”
Epidemiologist Dicky Budi-
man from Griffith University in
Australia also believed a second
booster dose was necessary to
Distant school
Children study on Tuesday in a classroom at SD 5 Cikidang state
elementary school in Lembang, West Bandung regency, West Java.
SD 5 Cikidang has not enrolled any new students in the last two years
because of its remote location. It currently has just 47 students in
grades 3-6 and only two teachers.
young investors are invest-
ing in the sports industry. I am
sure the younger generation can
make a breakthrough with their
expertise. What I did is just a
small example that youths can
be vanguards of global change.
I hope this spirit can spread to
all youths and drive the world
forward.
I strongly believe that by open-
ing the boardroom to the next
generation, we can all “Recover
Together, Recover Stronger” and
“Rebuild the Youth Agenda”.
Offering policy impacts at
scale, Indonesia’s SOEs are best
placed to lead by example and
showcase the value of millennials
in the boardroom. As the nation’s
engine of growth, we are driv-
ing Indonesia forward and en-
abling the next generation to take
the wheel.
I urge business leaders in the
private sector and policymakers
across the G20 to follow suit and
invest early in their boardroom
leaders. I am confident our board-
rooms, and our future, will be in
safe hands.
provide additional protection, es-
pecially against the threat posed
by Omicron subvariants BA.4 and
BA.5, which have the ability to by-
pass natural immunity and infect
vaccinated people.
The subvariants have been re-
sponsible for driving up the coun-
try’s daily caseload over the past
couple of weeks. Indonesia re-
ported some 4,000 new cases on
Monday, with capital Jakarta con-
tributing over half of the cases.
Cases had been hovering
around the 5,000 cases-mark
from July 19 until July 23, an in-
crease from some 2,500 cases per
day earlier this month. The coun-
try now has over 40,000 active
cases, up from 25,000 last week.
Public health expert Tjandra
Yoga Aditama also recently said
that Indonesia should take cues
from the international commu-
nity and provide the vulnerable
sections of the community with
options for a second booster dose.
Like Dicky, Tjandra cited wan-
ing immunity and the threat of
foreign variants.
Neighboring Singapore and
Malaysia began rolling out a sec-
ond booster dose in June and
July, respectively. Around 92 per-
cent of Singapore’s total popula-
tion and 83 percent of Malaysia’s
people have completed their pri-
mary vaccination as of July 19,
according to Our World in Data.
Daily vaccination rates have
dwindled over the past five
months — a fact that the govern-
ment attributes to public hesi-
tancy caused by the belief that the
situation has improved since the
deadly wave fueled by the Delta
variant infection devastated the
country last year.
As of Monday, some 97 percent
of the country’s 208 million tar-
get population had received a first
jab of the COVID-19 vaccine, with
81 percent of the targeted popula-
tion having received a second jab.
Only 26 percent, however, had
received booster shots.
To improve its coverage, the
government has introduced rules
that make it harder for those
without boosters to enter public
spaces or to travel.
Mayors and regents across the
country, for instance, have been
instructed to make a third vac-
cine dose mandatory for people
who wish to enter public spaces
like shopping malls, offices and
tourist spots within their respec-
tive jurisdictions.
Unboosted domestic travelers
are also required to present a neg-
ative COVID-19 test prior to their
departure, while those who have
had a booster shot are exempted
from mandatory testing.
Antara/Raisan Al Farisi