Using the four aspects of e-government (governance, services, infrastructure, and human capital), this mixed methods study seeks to provide an analysis of the digital skills development in the Indonesian public sector. Focus is given to the issue of supply and demand of state civil apparatuses (ASN) and their quality to implement e-government in the public sector. The study finds that information and communication technology (ICT) officers (pranata komputer/prakom) have the largest contribution to the implementation of e-government compared to the other ICT functional positions. However, the proportion of ICT officers in the total number of ASN is too low, and the current quality of ICT officers has raised concerns. Furthermore, the current delayering policy is indicated to contribute to the increasing number of unqualified ICT officers. Meanwhile, there are no plans so far of organizing a competency test for ICT officers. The study identifies three possible channels to fill the gap between the supply and demand of ICT officers: (i) the recruitment channel to onboard additional civil servants (PNS), contract-based government employees (PPPK), or individual consultants for contracts shorter than PPPK; (ii) the capacity building channel to optimize the currently available resources; and (iii) the retention channel to address the high turnover rate of ICT professionals. This study examines some good practices in five digital government units, which are (i) the Digital Transformation Office (Ministry of Health); (ii) GovTech Edu (Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology); (iii) Central Transformation Office (Ministry of Finance); (iv) Jakarta Smart City (Jakarta Provincial Government); and (v) Jabar Digital Service (West Java Provincial Government). These digital government units give lessons related to the necessity to improve recruitment method to attract digital talents into the public sector, the urgency of upskilling capacity through in-house capacity building, and flexible working arrangements, collaborative work, as well as less hierarchical culture. This study recommends that the government should prioritize PPPK as the most strategic channel to attract qualified digital talents; therefore, regulations related to PPPK recruitment for the ICT functional positions should be made. The government should offer competitive salaries and opportunities to contribute to the creation of social impacts. Meanwhile, Statistics Indonesia (BPS), as the supervisory institution for ICT officers, should organize a competency test for capacity building. Upskilling programs through formal education is important for underqualified officers. Finally, the training for government leaders should include materials related to collaborative and nonhierarchical work culture as a strategy for retention measures, especially to handle ICT officers, who are predominantly millennials and generation Z.

Suggested citation:

The SMERU Research Institute, GIZ, and Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford (2024) ‘Analysis of Digital Skills Development in the Public Sector in Indonesia.’ SMERU Research Report No. 3/2024. Jakarta: The SMERU Research Institute <URL> [access date].