Sintok Dialogue 2021: “Revitalising the Economy in Unprecedented Times of COVID-19”
DEPOK – (14/9/2021) The Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Indonesia, together with the Economics and Financial Policy Institute, Universiti Utara Malaysia, held Sintok Dialogue 2021 on 14th September 2021. With a theme of “Revitalising the Economy in Unprecedented Times of COVID-19,” the aim for organising Sintok Dialogue is to examine the macroeconomic impact of COVID-19 on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), households and communities, and the acceleration of pandemic-driven digitization.
The dialogue was opened with welcome remarks by Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Utara Malaysia, Prof. Dr. Haim Hilman, and keynote address by Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia Bhd., YBhg. Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift.
Divided into two parts, the first session was about “Business Dynamics and Digitalisation” with three panellists leading the dialogue. The first panellist, Mr. Naguib Mohd Nor, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Business Consulting Centre, STRAND Aerospace Malaysia, followed by second panellist Prof. Dr. Chandrakantan Subramaniam, Director of Co-operative and Entrepreneurship Development Institute (CEDI), Universiti Utara Malaysia, and the third panellist Mr. Manuel Andi Julius, Research Manager of UKM Indonesia, Institutes for Economics and Social Research (LPEM), Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Indonesia. This dialogue was moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Roslina Kamaruddin, the Deputy Director of Economics and Financial Policy Institute (ECOFI), Universiti Utara Malaysia.
Mr. Naguib Mohd Nor explained how COVID-19 has seen the accelerated adoption of the As-a-Service (AaS) business model at the global level. For the aerospace sector, the industry is already essentially run on an AaS business model and will require a highly integrated ecosystem with the application of industry 4.0 technologies. The sector gives more ready access to high technology development capability in Malaysia to companies who are looking to move towards more complex industrial agencies. If ecosystems are the breeding ground for innovation in the age of disruption, then entrepreneurs should be looking at as the agents of such change because entrepreneurs convert innovation into economic forces.
Dr. Chandra talked about Digitization – Digitalization – Digital Transformation. He said, there is no digitalization and no digital transformation without digitization (of paper and processes). He also explained about 3 future focus of investments which are Digital Firms, Digital Infrastructure, and Digitization.
On the other hand, Andi Julius explained that the Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have no option but to embrace the digital way of conducting business, supported by several government initiatives such as Credit Restructuring and Monetary Policy. Facing the issues of SMEs, UKMIndonesia.id provides support, called as Continuous Content Production, which focus on providing articles and information on Business Development for the MSMEs, including topics on Digital Marketing, and Business Capacity Development Program.
On the second dialogue, with a sub-theme of “Sustainable Livelihood through a Comprehensive Social Protection Model”, the three panellists were Mr. Edmund Cheong Peck Huang, the Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, Social Security Organization Malaysia (Socso); Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Yusof Saari, Chief Economist EIS-UPMCS Centre for Future Labour Market Studies, Social Security Organisation (Socso); and Dr. Alin Halimatussadiah, Head of Environmental Economics Research Group, Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM), Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Indonesia. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shamzaeffa Samsudin, the Director of Economics and Financial Policy Institute (ECOFI), Universiti Utara Malaysia, was the moderator for this session.
Dr. Mohd Yusof Saari introduced the framework of sustainable livelihood which consist of 5 capital dimensions: Financial, Human, Social, Physical, and Nature. These are important elements to ensure that people can survive shocks and stress without jeopardising others, while highlighting the need for a comprehensive protection framework. He added that the social protection framework using the concept of risk management (RM), as one of the objectives is to manage risk and vulnerability in the society – in terms of protection and support. This concept needs to be part of an integrated approach to sustainable development and poverty reduction, where the social, economic and environmental dimensions of human well-being are jointly addressed.
Mr. Edmund Cheong explained about the Social Security Protection landscape in Malaysia, by giving an overview of the Social Security Organization (PERKESO), followed by a brief explanation of social protection in the country and how Malaysia is compared to the ILO Convention 102. Highlighting the gaps and challenges in the Malaysian social protection system, he brought the need to address these gaps to ensure that all Malaysians are protected and no one is left behind.
Last but not least, Dr. Alin Halimatussadiah, presented the current social protection scheme in Indonesia, and the gap of program coverage that is in line with sustainable recovery, for example in the field of social forestry and support for job-intensive green sector, database, financing, and the ways forward. To support social protection programmes, Dr. Alin mentioned the need to have more comprehensive social assistance programmes, as well as strengthening the coordination among ministries/agencies/local government; having credible, updated, unified, and digitalization of database, and mobilizing public and non-public financial resources.
Concluding remarks was given by Dr. Vivi Yulaswati, the Senior Advisor for Social Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Ministry of National Development Planning Indonesia, while Closing remarks by Acting Dean of Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Indonesia, Teguh Dartanto, Ph.D., and the Dean of School of Economics, Finance and Banking Universiti Utara Malaysia, Prof. Dr. Russayani Ismail. (iofeb/SMM) (hjtp)