BANDUNG, TEL-U – Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Smart Card Consortium Indonesia, Ashwin Sasongko Sastrosubroto said that the development of Smart Card is a real effort to encourage technological independence in Indonesia. Through development of smart card which begins in the college environment, the use of imported technology can gradually stopped.
It delivered Ashwin in Exhibition, Seminar and Workshop Recommendations Standard SmartCard Indonesia, Tuesday (25/10). The exhibition itself has been held since the previous day in the West Hall ITB. According to him, if all the products used is imported from others, Indonesia will continue to depend on imported goods. “Do not let Indonesia became a republic imports,” he said.
Indonesia Smart Card Consortium consist of four universities and five companies. Fourth colleges included Telkom University (Tel-U), Bandung Institute of Technolgy (ITB), University of Indonesia (UI), and the University of Hasanuddin (UNHAS). While the five companies involved, namely PT Industri Telekomunikasi Indonesia (PT Inti), PT Xirka Silicon Technology, PT Data Aksara Matra (PT DAM), PT Inti Bangun Sejahtera (IBS), and PT Versatile.
The consortium is supported by the National Research Council (DRN) and received funding from the Ministry of Research and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti).
According to Aswin, smart cards have been selected for a simple reason. In addition to its relatively low cost, the development of smart cards in accordance with the Indonesia’s capabilities. “As we know, several universities and companies have created a smart card, even all the members of this consortium already developed a smart card in its place,” he said.
Secretary Smart Card Consortium Indonesia, Helni Mutiarsih Jumhur said the development of the smart card is also a role model of cooperation between universities, industry and government. Then the result, he added, a smart card that will be applied in all universities of the consortium.
“In addition, the development is expected to quickly unify the regulation with technological developments. The results of research now suggests, the time required to develop the technology on average only three seconds, while the legislation could take a month or even years, “he said.
In response, the government through the Ministry of Industry expressed support. According to Director General of Metal, Machinery and Electronic Equipment Transport, the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia, I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan, smart card market potential in Indonesia is very large, but most still rely on imports.
“Today, in the country, smart cards has grown and developed. The Ministry of Industry has noted that there are seven industrial smart card that utilizes the domestic market and exports to target markets include government, banking, travel and entertainment, and markets telecom operators, “he said in a speech read by the Director of Industrial Electronics and Informatics, Achmad Rodjih Almanshoer ,
One of the main problems in the development of the smart card industry is disharmony fare. Based on the Indonesian Customs Tariff Book (BKTI) in 2012, tariffs finished product smart card is 0 percent, while raw materials for the manufacturing tariffs as high as 5-10 percent.
According Suryawirawan, to overcome it and make the product smart card has competitiveness in their own country, the government through the Ministry of Industry together with the Ministry of Finance issued a policy by delivering incentives in fiscal form government borne import duties in hopes of reducing the cost of production, which in turn can help improve the competitiveness of the smart card industry in the country.
“In addition, the Ministry of Industry will also arrange the Foreign Policy Component Level Smart Card, which is generally divided into two parts, raw materials and services for smart cards DCL currently still very small,” he said.
It is expected he added, DCL penetrates deeper into hardware smartcard chip, chip design and the industry well. “It is hoped BMDTP policies and DCL will give a presumption in favor of the smart card industry in the country so that the smart card industry can grow and develop and promote national economic growth,” he said. (***)