TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is eyeing to alter the way to conduct the 2020 national population census, which is hoped to produce a single accurate database as a reference for future developments.

“Accurate data is very important to produce proper policies. We don’t want to execute programs or policies that are not based on that,” said President Jokowi at the State Palace on Friday, January 24.

He further asserted the importance of data towards a nation’s development by comparing it to one of the most-sought for world strategic commodities, oil.

“I often directly make a phone call to the BPS chief and ask about certain data. Data is the ‘new oil’, or maybe exceeding oil’s value,” said the President.

Moreover, he predicted Indonesia’s population would grow from 267 million to 319 million by 2045. With this figure, a database on the population’s demographics and its spread becomes even more crucial to determine a policy.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) is set to hold the seventh national census in 2020, which commences once every decade.

BPS chairman Suhariyanto explained that the agency would utilize a combined method from the online independent data registration from February 15-March 30, 2020, and the data collected by BPS workers door-to-door in July 2020.

ANTARA