IO – Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi encourages the cadets of the Transportation Ministry Higher Education and human resources in transportation to hone their literacy by developing a love of reading books, to further improve their abilities. In time, he claims, the quality of human resources will follow suit.
Budi conveyed this message when attending a book review event, “Institutional Economics: A Case Study of the Transportation Sector.” The publication was written by an academic from Gajah Mada University (UGM), Prof. Wihana Kirana Jaya. The event was organized by the Human Resources Development Agency of Transportation (BPSDM Perhubungan),
Monday (25/10).
The Minister said the book review should be an academic activity promoted by schools under BPSDM Perhubungan. “I hope that this event can stimulate the reading interest of transportation school cadets. This book is highly inspiring, and provides a lot of insight. It explores case studies in the transportation sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic, from the point of view of academics and technical aspects,” he explained.
He added that the quality of the human resources in the transportation sector should be improved, considering that the Government is intensively building major transportation infrastructure, particularly sea transport. “In an archipelagic country, port construction is absolutely necessary to optimize the maritime potential and facilitate connections for both goods and human transport,” he said.
Budi explained that the Government is ready to serve and reach out to the community throughout Indonesia by providing a sea toll trailblazers provided by the Public Service Obligations (PSO) in the form of passenger
ship subsidies and livestock transportation management.
“These steps are intended to realize the President’s Nawa Cita (nine-point development program) to reach the disadvantaged, remote, outermost and border areas (Tertinggal, Terpencil, Terluar, Perbatasan or 3TP). They also
ensure the availability of goods with reduced price disparities, especially in Eastern Indonesia,” he explained.
On the same occasion, Head of BPSDM Perhubungan Antoni Arif Priadi mentioned that a survey released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that the literacy level of the Indonesian people is unfortunately low. In 2019, reading interest was ranked 62 out of 70 countries. Similarly, UNESCO revealed that the Indonesians’ reading interest was only 0.001 percent.
He further explained that in addition to encouraging cadets to increase their reading habits, lecturers are also urged to produce publications about railways, roadways, airways and waterways that can compete nationally and internationally, and be cited as references around the world. (eka)