The New Ruler, Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin Have a Huge Task in Manufacturing Industry

After the inauguration of the president and vice president of the Republic of Indonesia 2019 - 2024, Jokowi and Ma'ruf Amin as the President and Vice President elected already have a massive task in the Manufacturing Industry. As it is known, currently Indonesia's manufacturing industry is considered to be weakening.

The new cabinet formed by president Jokowi is expected to be able to overcome problems in the manufacturing industry. Will President Jokowi's new cabinet be able to reawaken the manufacturing industry in Indonesia?

Indonesia's manufacturing industry is considered to have very slow growth when compared to other categories. However, the manufacturing industry is considered to be the pulse of the Indonesian economy. In the second quarter of 2019 alone, Indonesia's manufacturing industry was only able to record a growth of 3.2% to 3.3%.

This certainly misses the prediction of Bank Indonesia (BI) which estimates that the manufacturing industry should be able to grow in the range of 6% to 7%. The weak condition of Indonesian manufacturing, strengthened by the Indonesian Manufacturing Index or PMI in September 2019 which only managed to reach 49.1 only, very small compared to the Indonesian PMI in May 2019 which was able to skyrocket.

In addition to domestic polemics, the global economic polemic also exacerbated the condition of Indonesia's manufacturing industry. Global economic uncertainties also weaken the competitiveness of Indonesia's manufacturing industry on the world stage. All this has an impact on the condition of Indonesia's Trade Balance which dropped to -160.5 (USD million).

As a result, the Jokowi cabinet version 2.0 has a very difficult task to improve the performance of the Indonesian manufacturing industry. The government also needs to improve the quality of Human Resources (HR) in order to compete in the global arena, as well as minimize the mismatch of the workforce that is currently still a scourge in the Manufacturing Industry.

The current workforce in Indonesia is 136.18 million people, but the mismatch rate (mismatch between Education background and employment) reaches more than half (60%).

A number of economic observers argue that Indonesia must have a priority point in the manufacturing industry. Currently, the government is considered to have too many focal points which ultimately are not optimal for development.

The new cabinet of Jokowi version 2.0 needs to concoct a new policy formulation so that it can revive the manufacturing industry in Indonesia.