(1) Prabowo’s Greatest Agenda Should Be Nation Character Building (NCB)

By Legisan Samtafsir

Yes, the greatest agenda that should be undertaken by Prabowo as the leader of the new government should be Nation Character Building (NCB). Why?

First, learn from Park Chung Hee when he transformed South Korea from a poor agricultural country (per capita USD 100 in 1960) to a growing industrialized nation (per capita USD 35,000 in 2023). Although Park was a general who came to power through a military coup, his focus on education and training for the people was immense. Park launched the Saemaul Undong program, a program to train rural and urban communities, which enhanced technical skills in agriculture, craftsmanship, and industry, while also improving the mentality of the people, making them more optimistic, hardworking, and self-reliant. Saemaul Undong was carried out massively, in a structured way, as a pathway to modernize South Korea.

Learning from South Korea’s transformation, the new government under Prabowo should prioritize mass and structured training for the people, especially to improve technical skills required for industrialization in villages, but most importantly for building character and national identity (Nation Character Building, NCB), as a strong, productive, independent, and patriotic nation.

Second, a strong, productive, independent, and patriotic national character, along with technical industrial skills, is crucial to enhance because Indonesia’s abundant natural resources, ready to be processed, are truly a comparative advantage to make Indonesia a producer of all domestic needs as well as exports.

Thus, Indonesia’s industrialization will grow rapidly with high public participation. Also, with the abundance of raw materials and local labor, Indonesia’s industrial products will be very diverse and competitive in the global market (competitive advantage).

Third, Nation Character Building (NCB) must be prioritized because of the vast domestic market, which is increasingly filled with imported products, ranging from automobiles, electronics, household tools, finished clothing, and even food. This reality causes the purchasing power of the Indonesian people to decline due to the drop in income, which results from rising unemployment and the scarcity of job opportunities.

Therefore, the new government must quickly involve the people as industrial actors, even from the villages, according to their potential. Supply chains between regions must be connected so that local content of finished products in Indonesia can be 100%, meaning all regions will thrive.

In this way, the problem of deindustrialization will be solved, job opportunities will increase, unemployment will decrease, income and purchasing power will rise, and ultimately, the health and education of the people will improve. In the end, people will be able to meet their families’ full nutritional needs independently. And the government will no longer need to worry about providing free food for its citizens (to be continued…).