Indonesia launches integrated digital government platform

Indonesia has launched an integrated government technology (GovTech) platform named INA Digital to merge all public service apps in one portal.

Speaking at the ceremony to launch INA Digital on Monday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that INA Digital, a digital-based integrated platform of government services, including the national portal and infrastructure-related services, is essential to simplify government bureaucracy and improve Indonesia's competitiveness at the global level.

According to the President, Indonesia already has 27,000 government apps as many government agencies tend to release new apps whenever there is a change in their top brass.

The different apps even tend to work in silos, some are even overlapping with one another. The overabundance of apps can also get confusing for citizens when they interact with government services. As ministries go aggressive with the app rollout, the government is even planning to spend hundreds of millions of US dollar this year on new platforms.

He told ministers to stop coming up with new apps in a bid to cut the bureaucratic red tape and put the brakes on further spending for the platform rollouts.

After the INA Digital launch, the Indonesian government will integrate thousands of online applications operated by ministries and agencies. The government targets the interoperability of public services through INA Digital to be achieved by September 2024.

Nine services will be given priority for completion, including education, health care, social affairs, public security, state apparatus, basic digital identification, digital data exchange, digital payments and public service portals