Australia should ease Indonesia’s reliance on China for technology training

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Australian National University experts have warned that after China became the dominant power in Indonesia’s cyber space, Australia should look up and offer Indonesia an alternative for digital training and development.

ANU researcher and co-author of the report, Dirk van der Klee, said on Wednesday that Australia and the rest of the Quad countries – India, Japan and the US – must do more to deliver. Technology training to Indonesia.

“And there should be a short-term and technical focus to help Indonesia meet its critical ICT skills shortage,” he said.

“Chinese companies have become cyber security partners in Indonesia, not only because they provide hardware, but also because they provide intensive training to all sectors of society, from government officials to rural students.

“The programs are huge and are being offered by big companies like Huawei,” van der Klee said, adding that Huawei alone is training tens of thousands of Indonesians and thus leading Indonesia’s current and future tech leaders to Chinese technology.

Van der Klee noted that despite Indonesia’s deep animosity toward China, there are no complaints about China’s dominance in telecommunications and cyber.

Epoch Times photo
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) during a photo session in front of Osaka Castle during the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

Indonesia is still trying to close the economic divide with advanced industrial economies, and as an emerging economy, the future of job opportunities and wage growth lies in technology-driven industries, the report explains.

With 202 million internet users contributing $70 billion to Indonesia’s digital economy by 2021, the Indonesian government is banking on the transformative forces of digital technology to bolster economic growth.

Desire to provide vocational training

The report outlines key steps that Australia, India, Japan and the US can take to become competitive in Indonesia, one of which is providing vocational training.

The report’s co-author, Benjamin Herscovich, said Australia should work with other Quad countries to offer a large-scale vocational technology training program that would effectively improve Indonesia’s technological capabilities, as an alternative to Chinese government-sponsored training programs.

“The first step for the new Australian government – and the Quad – is to provide extensive, short-term technical training to Indonesia. That’s what they want. Now we’re giving that ground to China,” he said.

“Large technology companies from the Quad countries should contribute their technology and expertise to an internationally recognized vocational program. Australia’s vocational education and training sector should help develop people-to-people and educational links with Indonesia.

Epoch Times photo
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their bilateral talks with the Quad Leaders’ Summit at Akakaka Palace on May 24, 2022 in Tokyo, Japan. (Ise Kato – Pool/Getty Images)

The report concludes that it is in Australia’s interest for Indonesia to meet its growth potential and that providing vocational training is one of the steps Australia can take to achieve this goal.

Indonesia has been demanding vocational technology training for decades. Now is the time to deliver Australia and the Quad,” the report said.

Helping Indonesia address cybercrime

Australian technology training can help Indonesia deal with major security threats such as cybercrime, said another author of the report, Gatra Priandita from the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy.

He stated that the most urgent security threat to Indonesia is cyber crimes and pointed out that the country is vulnerable.

“Information security is weak, and Chinese companies are seen as quick solutions partners,” he said.

The report noted that the Indonesian government is well aware of the threat of Chinese espionage and that heavy reliance on Chinese technology could lead to political pressure.

However, with government officials concerned about espionage threats from Australia and the United States, cyber security vulnerabilities from Indonesia’s perspective exist regardless of who provides the basic infrastructure.

While Australia is concerned about the cyber security threats posed by Huawei and other Chinese companies, it has yet to offer Indonesia significant options.

According to the report, Australia can’t compete with China alone, but with Quad, it can develop a serious technology training program that not only provides China’s ICT, but also “provides a variety of technological options that are important to Indonesia’s digital development.” Companies.

Steve Milne

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Steve is an Australian reporter covering sport, arts and politics in Sydney. He is an experienced English teacher, qualified nutritionist, sports enthusiast and amateur musician. Contact him at steve.milne@epochtimes.com.au.

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