My Literacy World and the Impact on Economy of Justice (Panel Discussion)

The idea of this event was based on the joint interest of Tempo Institute, FES Indonesia and other involved organizations to discuss the importance of literacy, of reading and critical and reflective thinking to realize a Good society. Furthermore, the intention was also to discuss the importance of literacy as a way for access to information. And therefore as an enabling right and consequently a vital tool in realizing a variety of other social, economic and political rights. Literacy enables people to participate in public life and make informed choices.

This seems to become even more important against the digitalization of public life, since we are more and more flooded with information; sometimes also wrong information. So, against the background of this ongoing digital transformation traditional as well as digital literacy needs to be improved. Not least to enable creativity and knowledge and therefore also to maintain and boost the employability of each individual in the economy of tomorrow.

Regarding the economy of tomorrow in Indonesia it has been widely noticed that President Jokowi has put the reduction of inequality on top of his 2017 agenda and the years to come. In this spirit, the introduction of the concept of Justice Economy - ekonomi berkeadilan - into the political discourse attracts growing attention.

In the panel discussion;

Hilmar Farid, Directorate General of Culture at Ministry of Education and Culture,

The renowned sociologist Imam Prasodjo,

Dr Murti Bunanta, President of the Society for the advancement of children´s literature

as well as rising digital columnist star Afi Nihaya’s

addressed; how to restructure education, how to create incentives for reading literature in a digitalized world, how to generally improve access to literature as an important aspect of the aspired Justice economy. how to establish filter mechanisms for information and how to realize a business environment for publishing literature.

Digital technology has fastened our life’s tremendously and we are always lagging behind. This trend needs to be changed by slowing down our life’s and by upgrading our literacy and digital abilities, said Hilmar Farid.

The expert panel emphasized the need to intensify the dialogue with political decisionmakers and with concerned citizens how to implement the different aspects of Economy of Justice (Ekonomi Berkeadilan) in the long-run and the short-run.