Why These 3 Things Are The Keys to Success for Indonesia to Join Asean Economic Community

  

To welcome 2016, ASEAN has started a new program known as ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) or in Indonesian, we call it Masyarakat Ekonomi ASEAN (MEA). All member countries of ASEAN join in ASEAN Economic Community.
There are ten countries and Indonesia is one of the members in ASEAN. As we know, the system of recruitment of foreign workers is easier now because of ASEAN Economic Community. The good thing is Indonesian have a big chance to work in another country. It will be very helpful for us to compete with others but if we are not ready, we will be thrown away even though we are in our own country. We have to prepare ourselves because we will show another country that it is worth to compete in ASEAN Economic Community. On top of that we can show them we are better than them. There are so many ways to prove it. Mastery English language, good education, and proper skill are the requirements for Indonesian to join ASEAN Economic Community.

   In ASEAN Economic Community, English language is very influential because it is the main language for communicating with people from other countries. The different languages between all the members in ASEAN make them have to speak in international language, in this case - English language. Besides its international language, a lot of information is written in English language. We have to know the information that happens in the world,  otherwise we will be an out-of-dated person if we do not keep ourselves updated with the information. Those factors lead us to be someone who can adapt with everything in life. It makes us worth it to be a part of ASEAN Economic Community. Moreover, all of the members come with different languages such as pioneer countries that are Brunei, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Still there are other countries in ASEAN Economic Community such as Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, Solomon Islands, and Bangladesh as a result of expansion of cooperation among countries in ASEAN. All of them use English language to communicate with each other.

   Having a good education is important for the participants of ASEAN Economic Community and it becomes a benchmark of our dedication. We have to prove others that we are smart and we have deep knowledge of many things. We can be people that are eligible to be a part of ASEAN Economic Community because of the utmost degree of education. Besides for the benefit for ourselves, good education is one of the ways that can advance our own country. If we become famous, people will know where we come from. It is a big chance that will advance our country and make our country proud of us.

   Not only mastering English language, but also having a good education is worth to compete with others in ASEAN Economic Community. We also have to be ready about our non-academic preparation. We have to sharpen our skills, learn some new skills, and harness our skills. Even though we are good at education, people will admit us as a potential person if we have a skill as an added value of ourselves. Next, as many as skills we have, we should be motivated for everything we do. It makes us different with others as well. Maybe we have the same level of degree with the others, but skill is a comparison who is better than the others. We should not have to rely on our academic degree only but we also have to sharpen our skills as well to make ourselves different.

   To conclude, as a part of ASEAN Economic Community we have to prepare ourselves well. We cannot underestimate ASEAN Economic Community because we are the one who join in ASEAN Economic Community. We compete with many countries in Asia that means we have so many competitors. We have to increase our human resources because our competitors different in many ways.

By : Raden Roro Fauziah Ratna Pertiwi

How Entrepreneurship And Job Training Can Keep You Away From Unemployment

   One of the main problems in Indonesia is the problem of unemployment or joblessness. What is unemployment?
According to an economist  Muana Nanga, unemployment is   a condition in which a person belonging to the category of the labor force do not have jobs and are not actively looking for work. In developing countries, this problem has increased continuously especially among young Indonesian generation which can give impact directly to poverty, crime, economic problem, and social-politic life in Indonesia. That is why Indonesia is categorized as a country with the highest rate youth unemployment. Based on RRI News update, a large number of youth unemployment rate in Indonesia is caused by several factors namely the imbalanced growth of the population of productive age to the number of available jobs, the termination of employment, low education system, and the lack of labor’s quality.

   Firstly, based on the data from the Central Bureau of Statistics 2014, the population of Indonesia is currently around 240 million with a total labor force of around 121 million. However, there are  only 114 million of workers from the labor force. What about more than 7 million people? The remainder is the number of unemployment. The number of unemployment turned to be 7 million, but the registered people who are looking for jobs were about 1 million. Although the registered job vacancies are about 816,000, not all companies are able to receive all of the job seekers. It happens because they don’t fulfill the requirements of the company. So, the registered employment is only about 625,000 people. We can figure out the imbalanced number between the total unemployment and employment rate in Indonesia.
  
   Secondly, the termination of employment which always takes place every year is caused by many factors such as violations of company’s regulations by employees, bankruptcy or failure of the company due to the company’s inability to pay their obligation, and then the expiration of labor agreement due to inability of the company to extend their labor contract. Another reason is the inappropriate skills and competences of the workers.
  
   Thirdly, the low education system in Indonesia if compared  to that of other countries such as Finland’s which has effective system for student development. The low education system can lead to joblessness, how is that possible? It is because Indonesia’s education system is not efficient and effective. Some examples of the inefficient system are the length of study from morning to evening, too many tasks or assignment given to students either individually or in groups, demands of high score that make the students become bored and feel burdened, and learning process which does not emphasize on the subjects of entrepreneurship. This happens even though the government has run a compulsory education program for 12 years or until high school. Students are fed with too many subjects which they feel they don’t really use them after they graduate. When they graduate and become workers or employees, not many of them have the soul or the skills as they expect. For instances, someone who wants to be an entrepreneur does not have the skill as an entrepreneur because he/she doesn’t learn how to be a good entrepreneur, so they have to learn it in informal education or job training. It can be said that Indonesia’s education system still needs improvement to be more efficient and effective.

   Fourthly, not only formal education which need to be considered but also the quality of labor that need to be developed. The lack of labor’s quality must be improved by some job training. Why is job training so important? According to the meaning of ‘job training’ it is all activities to give, acquire, improve, and develop job competence, productivity, ability, discipline, attitude, and work ethic on the level of skills and expertise that match with the grade and qualification of office or employment.  The workers should receive job training so that they are more skilled and be able to carry out their responsibilities to be better conform with the standards of the current job in the hope to decrease the number of unemployment.

   Fourthly, the lack of labor’s quality can make it difficult to get a job especially in this era of globalization.  The current era is also known as the era of technological sophistication, when people have to be more expert in mastering the technology so that they are not dominated by technology instead they can master the technology. We can see the transformation that occurs this time such as in some public transportation which has facilitated us to use card for paying transportation fee so that ticket booth service run by human is unnecessary. People have to keep up with the technological advances in order to decrease the negative impacts of technological development called technological unemployment.
  
   In fact, there are still many ways to get a job, right?  Many people have certain skills or special talent. The problem is that they cannot apply the skills or the capabilities because there is no means to develop their skills or jobs that suit to their capabilities. Well, if there is no means to develop their skill, how can they become entrepreneurs?  As an entrepreneur must have enthusiasm to create their own business, most people lack of enthusiasm to seek job. This explains why entrepreneurship can solve the solution of unemployment. Unemployment can also due to the reluctance on the part of the labor force to seek self-employment opportunities. This reluctance can be caused by desperation after a long search of job opportunity and still able to find one. However, mostly unemployment is probably caused by laziness. The passion and determination to be able to find job opportunities is needed until someone can find one or he can be an entrepreneur. Take for example, a successful businessman Bob Sadino, who started his career from a driver, an egg seller until he sacrificed his wealth before being a boss of “Kem Chicks”. Now, he can reap the result of hard work, patience and spirit in his business because he has the willingness to do everything diligently to become a great businessman.
  
   In conclusion, a high rate of unemployment in Indonesia can be caused by many factors but we should not only look at the causes, we must also find solutions to reduce the number of joblessness. As the next generation, we need to take a chance and raise our standard to make a good change, improve the welfare of Indonesian people and show to the world that Indonesian has the qualified manpower to compete in international job market.

By : Caroline Roston