Indonesian ministry to create independent entity to review data governance

Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Information is looking at creating an independent Data Authority Organisation similar to the Data Protection Authorities in Europe. According to director general of informatics application Semuel Pangerapan the organisation's aim is to help review data governance and maintain the balance between regulation and innovation.The entity will also give guidance to industry players on how they can manage data in a responsible way, and the bill can create new jobs such as "data protection officer", he said during the recent Indonesia AI Forum organised by Indonesian AI companies Nodeflux and Kata.ai."There will be a new opportunity for SMEs to outsource the data governance of their consumer's data, which in turn will better protect said data. The key lies in how this balance will spur innovation," Pangerapan added.Pangerapan said that there will be "huge opportunities" in which small organisations and SMEs will no longer have to manage their consumer data manually or by themselves. According to him, this will strengthen the enforcement of data protection for every consumer.Meanwhile during the forum, Indra Purnama, senior expert at eCommerce roadmap PMO coordinating Ministry of Economic Home Affairs RI explained that awareness towards data privacy is "very important". As such, the Indonesian government is in the process of drafting the Data Protection Bill to protect the public's interest."Even though the government is working on it, people should also be aware that the development cycle of technology is very rapid, while the process to create regulation happens at a slower pace," he said. He added that all stakeholders need to do their part in guarding their private data, including technology companies which needs to protect the data of their users, not only depending on regulation."This initiative to proactively protect data is crucial since an overly restrictive regulation will have a negative social and economical impact, at the same time overly permissive regulation will have their own impacts," he explained.(Photo courtesy: 123RF)