2030

President Yudhoyono has launched a vision for Indonesia: by 2030, Indonesia will be among top five economic powers in the world. In the past three days, Kompas published a seminar that attempted to relate this vision with education. The second article in the series is of interest in this post. In it, the article stated that the vision, albeit feasible, is impossible to achieve by 2030, considering the current state of affairs in Indonesia.

It begs the question of why bother having a vision when it is not achievable? Sure, in their highly influential book Built to Last, Collins and Porras stated that visionary companies (interchangeable with countries) should aim to have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. But implicit in their argument is that the vision should be achievable.

In a current research initiated by British Council, conducted by partnership between Bina Nusantara University and Forum Grafika Digital to map packaging, promotion, and publication industries, I was informed that Indonesia does not even have data on the service industries yet – a fact that although is not surprising is nevertheless detrimental towards the 2030 vision.

When the more advanced countries in the world have moved on from industrial era, to informational age, to service industries, and to knowledge economy at present, manufacturing industries are still Indonesia’s most valuable industries. Service industries don’t even count.

Without attempting to be pessimistic and cynical (although it’s hard not to be both considering the state of affairs), how on earth will Indonesia be among top five economic powers in the world by 2030? The Kompas article mentioned that at present Indonesia is not even in the top twenty. So why not set an achievable vision instead, one that although may not be as great as the 2030 vision, but is more likely to set up smaller steps towards being on the top five?

ADDED
In Changing Minds, a book I currently read, Howard Gardner wrote:

"... while stories [referring to any ideas put forward by leaders] need to be dramatic, motivating, memorable, picturesque, even garlanded with appropriate music and graphics, they also need to be honest. That is where integrity comes in. Stories that do not resonate with reality ultimately prove frustrating and ineffective." (my emphasis, p.112)