JAKARTA – To recover the economy the COVID-19 pandemic hit that the government has allocated the 2020 State Budget funds of Rp.695.2 trillion. Of this amount, the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI) hopes that they can spend IDR 19 trillion on soft loan programs for entrepreneurs in the tourism and creative economy sectors.
“If soft loans for tourism and creative economy businesses can be realized, the acceleration of national economic recovery will soon be achieved,” said Mardani H Maming, General Chair of the Central HIPMI in a webinar entitled “National Economic Recovery and Post-Pandemic Creative Economy Revival”, Wednesday (3 / 2/2021).
The national seminar organized by the Central Indonesian Cyber Media Union (SMSI) and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy presented keynote speaker Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno (Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy) with resource persons Mardani H Maming (General Chairperson of Central HIPMI), Airin Rachmi Diany (Chair of the Association of City Governments Indonesia), and Gede Pramana (Head of the Bali Provincial Tourism Office).
The webinar tourism actors attended which in Indonesia, the administrators of the Central, Provincial, and Regency / City SMSIs throughout Indonesia was given an introduction to the General Chairperson of the SMSI Pusat Firdaus.
According to Firdaus, SMSI has a network of 1,103 cyber media owners in 33 provinces. With so many cyber media owners joining, SMSI is very worthy to be a partner of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.
Sandiaga S Uno is proud of the many cyber media owners who are members of SMSI. With thousands of members, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy has designated SMSI as the organization that owns cyber media with the largest members in the world.
“If Mas Nasir says SMSI is the largest in Asia, I will ordain the largest SMSI in the world,” said Mas Sandi, Sandiaga S Uno’s nickname.
The Head of the Central SMSI 2021 HPN Committee, M. Nasir, said that apart from holding a virtual national seminar, the Central SMSI was also building a new 750 meter long 2.5 meter wide road in Serang Banten City.
Besides that, they also built 16 sanitation toilets. “Construction of roads and sanitation is SMSI’s service for the country,” said M. Nasir. Mardani H Maming revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit tourism entrepreneurs and the creative economy throughout Indonesia. This labor-intensive business collapsed because of the impact of the coronavirus. Now the entrepreneurs hope for the role of the government to help capital with soft loans.
“We hope the parties related to the National Economic Recovery will realize the disbursement of funds amounting to Rp19 trillion for soft loan programs for tourism entrepreneurs and the creative economy,” said Mardani H Maming, who served as chairperson of the Association of Indonesian Regency Governments.
Meanwhile, Airin Rachmi Diany reminded tourism and creative economy entrepreneurs to be smart in seizing opportunities, building innovation, and researching support and collaboration. “The district government and municipal governments will support in the fields of promotion and publication, training, and facilitators and catalysts,” said Airin.
Efforts to restore the national economy must not stop at the seminar. We must realize thoughts and hopes with actual work. No matter how good the thinking is, if they do not implement it, it will not mean much.
“We are waiting for the realization of the cooperation between the Central SMSI and the Creative Economy Ministry of Tourism. We in the regions also strive for cooperation between cyber media, entrepreneurs and local governments to restore the economy in the regions through the tourism sector and creative economy, “said Ilyasi, Secretary of the SMSI for the Special Region of Yogyakarta.
Anang Fadhilah
