2020: Indonesia Is Having Its First Digital Census Through The Internet

15/02/2020

In 2020, the Indonesian census is the country's 7th census.

What began in 1961 in the country, census is meant to acquire and record information about the population. From 1980, census has been held every 10 years. And in 2020, Indonesia is experiencing its first paperless census, in which the population is opt to register themselves through the internet.

Head of Statistics Indonesia (BPS) Kecuk Suhariyanto said that Indonesians can use digital equipment to visit BPS' web applications to provide their data for the census.

The hope is that through the internet, it should make things easier for citizens who want to enter their data, as well as helping field enumerators who collect the data, to work a lot faster and more efficient.

Using PC, laptop or smart device, citizens can visit BPS' web application at https://bps.go.id/, and fill their basic data, without going through a field enumerator.

In other words, this is the first time for Indonesia to gather its population data where citizens can opt to complete the census online rather than waiting for BPS officials to come to their homes or going to regional BPS offices.

Kecuk Suhariyanto
Kecuk Suhariyanto, head of BPS. (Credit: Media Indonesia/ Adam Dwi)

Suhariyanto added that the BPS is working with the Home Affairs Ministry, particularly the Population and Civil Registry Directorate General (Dukcapil), to undertake the census.

Indonesia's President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo speaking at the State Palace in the capital Jakarta, emphasized the importance of an accurate source of data as the basis for the government’s policy-making, saying that "data is a new kind of wealth."

"The census data […] is aimed at generating single population data, [which is] the basic data needed to make plans in various [policy] areas," the President said.

He went on to call on the public to participate in the 2020 census, which is meant to carried out by BPS between February and March.

The 2020 census collects a massive amount of important demographic data on the country’s more than 260 million citizens.

This include: name, place of residence, occupation, among 19 other types of data the agency requires. But according to BPS, it excludes ethnicity.

The 2010 census showed that the Indonesian population was predominantly male (50.34%), Javanese (40.22%) and Muslim (87.18%). It also showed that 57.49% of Indonesians live on the island of Java, which is why the government decided to locate the new capital elsewhere.

Read: Indonesia's President Jokowi On Social Media: Where Should The Capital City Of Indonesia Be?

Regulations mandate all state institutions to match their statistics, and yet they were different.

For example, BPS said that in 2010, Indonesia's population was at 266 million, while the Ministry's data showed 265 million. With digital aid, "this sort of data discrepancy between our institutions will be no more,” said the Ministry’s Population and Civil Registry Director General Zudan Arif Fakrulloh.

By having the census carried out through digital equipment, BPS wants to generate Indonesia population's data from scratch.

Suhariyanto said the 2020 census would use a combination method, by referring to data provided by the Home Ministry’s Population and Civil Registration Directorate General (Dukcapil) as the basis of the census, as mandated by Presidential Regulation No. 62/2019.

He added that the BPS would gather data from Indonesian citizens both at home and abroad. For foreigners who have lived in the country for more than a year, they too can participate in the census.

The 835 terabyte data which is stored in Ministry-owned servers, would then be cross-checked with data collected by the BPS website. If the agency detects inconsistencies, it is to send officials into the field to verify information.

Echoing Jokowi’s message, Suhariyanto said that the public’s participation in the census is the key of ensuring the success of this digital census.

“We’re making a jump in 2020 when we will combine registration and data matching in the field. This is the first time in Indonesian history,” said Zudan.

#MencatatIndonesia
An officer from BPS wearing a #MencatatIndonesia shirt signs a joint commitment to support the 2020 population census at a coordination meeting in Pendapa city, Tegal, Central Java, on February 6. (Credit: Antara / Oky Lukmansyah)

There is always a first time for everything, and the same goes to this online census in Indonesia. Many Indonesians didn't know about the digitized census, and many didn't even know that there is even a census this 2020.

This is why the government is pushing out the information to all of its citizens through various medium, including on social media networks using the hashtag #MencatatIndonesia, through national television, radio channels and other mediums.

BPS officials are also touring the vast archipelago country, visiting local administrative offices, schools and agencies, to encourage active participation in the census.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said Suhariyanto in his presentation at a big data convention in Jakarta on August 28, "you could use your smartphones to fill in your own data. If that doesn’t work, an official will visit your home with a tablet or smartphone. This approach is especially useful for reaching isolated regions."

In a separate moment, BPS' deputy for statistics distribution and services, Yunita Rusanti, said that the agency had budgeted about Rp 5 trillion ($353.78 million) to execute the country's first online census. The budget is a lot larger than the Rp 3.3 trillion previously allocated for the 2010 census.

“We’ve been making preparations and maps for the census since last year and it’s quite an extraordinary cost so most of our funds are absorbed by the census,” she said.

Then there are questions about the capacity of BPS servers which were frequently offline during the start of the online census. There are also privacy and security questions, as many citizens have expressed their worries about the security of their data. Here, BPS is assuring that the agency is doing its best to protect citizens' data.