President Meets Achmad Zaky, Jokowi: Stop Uninstall Bukalapak

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi calls on the public to stop uninstall e-commerce app Bukalapak.

"I want you to stop uninstall Bukalapak. Stop," said Jokowi in a press conference at the state palace in Jakarta, Saturday, Feb. 16.

As one of the unicorns in Indonesia, Bukalapak needs space to compete with other countries, the president says. He continues that it was in line with the government’s goal to boost the youth to innovate and be creative in order to be successful.

Jokowi also hopes for the SMEs currently running their business offline will want to enter online marketplaces like Bukalapak to develop the economy.

Indonesia owns four unicorn startups; Gojek, Traveloka, Tokopedia, dan Bukalapak, with the value above US$ 1 billion or Rp 13.8 trillion.

The hashtag #uninstallbukalapak became one of Twitter's trending topic on February 14, after founder and CEO of the e-commerce platform Achmad Zaky, tweeted about his hopes in facing the Industry 4.0 era.

Read: Public Lash Out on Bukalapak CEO over Misunderstood Tweet

Zaky tweeted that it would be hopeless to face Industry 4.0 with the current research and development budget set by the government. He also compared Indonesia's R&D budgets with other countries.

He says the United States has budgeted US$511 billion for research and development, China US$451 billion, Japan US$165 billion, Germany US$118 billion, South Korea US$91 billion, Taiwan US$33 billion, Australia US$23 billion, Malaysia US$10 billion, Singapore US$10 billion, while Indonesia only allocated US$2 billion.

"Hopefully, the new president will be able to increase [that budget]," Zaky tweeted through his personal account @achmadzaky.

The tweet went viral quickly and generate hashtag #uninstallbukalapak. In response to the backlash he received from Twitter users, Zaky issued another response that clarified his words. He said that 'the new president' does not necessarily refer to an individual and that his tweet could also refer to incumbent presidential candidate Jokowi.

According to Achmad Zaky, the purpose of his tweet is to deliver the fact the in 20 to 50 years, Indonesia needs to invest in R&D and human resources at the high level. The Bukalapak boss hopes Indonesia can race with other countries.

Friski Riana