Kisaran, 18 September 2019. PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) and the Indonesia Coast Guard (Bakamla) continued the “Maritime Village” development partnership in several locations in the country’s border areas. After last month’s program in Sebatik Island, the next Maritime Village program has started in Asahan regency, North Sumatra, in the Malaka Strait coast, and directly across Indonesia’s neighboring countries. The partnership includes digital technology and facilities to boost the standard of living for the locals. Present during the activity were Head Sustainability & Internal Communication, Andy Satrio Yuddho, Head of Sales Outer North Sumatra-NAD, Oloan Mfonang Sinambela, Bakamla Legal and Partnership Information Deputy, Bakamla Rear Admiral Dade Ruskandar, LL.B, LL.M and Acting Regent Asahan, Surya, B.Sc and all officials at the Silo Baru Village Meeting Hall, Thursday (18/9).
XL Axiata West Region Group Head Francky Rinaldo Pakpahan said, “Border area security includes various aspects. Besides placing security officers with various security techniques, there must also be stronger security provided by locals living in the border areas. Such as by boosting their quality of life. As a good quality of life hopefully could boost public participation to ensure safe sovereignty and safety against all types of security breaches. Thus, XL Axiata is enthusiastic to support the Maritim Village Program based on the effort to increase quality of life aspect.”
Francky said XL Axiata’s support is part of the implementation of XL Axiata and Bakamla’s partnership agreement, signed by XL Axiata President Director Dian Siswarini and Bakamla Main Secretary Rear Admiral (Bakamla) Supriatno Irawan M.M. Bakamla Head Rear Admiral (Bakamla) Achmad Taufiqoerrochman BEc was also on hand to witness the signing ceremony in Jakarta, Monday (22/7). The Maritime Village in Asahan regency is located in Silo Baru Village, Silau Laut district.
According to Francky, XL Axiata will implement all of its digital-based social awareness program for the Maritime Village Program. The programs have all been implemented in various regions to support the government’s programs, especially in relations to strengthening the capability of citizens in disadvantaged villages, as well as boosting productivity in the digital era. Another program is the quota donation program for several schools in Asahan regency.
The programs are the utilization of digital facilities for women, including to boost the productivity of small and medium sized enterprises. XL Axiata also introduce the Laut Nusantara application to help local fishermen increase their productivity. Maritime Village is located in coastal areas with the residents work as fishermen. By using information in the application, local fishermen can find fish location accurately. More catches means bigger income.
In addition, the Laut Nusantara application provides other features much needed by fishermen, such as information about wave height and wind speed. Understanding about these two natural factors will provide safety while they're out at sea. XL Axiata also provided training participants with smartphone pre-installed with the Laut Nusantara application, XL Axiata SIM card and fast Internet package.
Under the Maritime Village concept, besides productivity improvement, fishermen also received training to become Bakamla partners in securing the area. As a citizen who sails out to and work at sea border area every day, the fishermen can help supervise their waters. Moreover, Malaka strait, their fishing location, is a crowded waterway with international traffic.
To improve the quality of villagers, women in Maritime Village will be trained to utilize digital facilities to promote products and expand market. They will be taught how to utilize the simplest digital channel, such as using social media to market products and tap into target market. They will also be taught how to use social media to promote the potentials of their area, such as nature and cultural tourism potentials.
As access to digital services gets easier, and considering the use of digital services among underage children, XL Axiata through the Sisternet program also provides training for mothers to supervise their children. The training especially related to understanding about risks faced by children and parents emerging from unsupervised Internet access. Through this training, mothers can teach their children on how to optimize Internet utilization to improve their creativity and achievement.
For fast internet support for schools, XL Axiata also held the quota donation program, where it donated quota of data to 15 senior and vocational high schools. Each school will receive 20GB free data every month for one year. With the data donation, recipient schools will get access to fast Internet that they can use to improve learning and teaching activities.
Today, XL Axiata serves people in Asahan with good data network infrastructure. There are more than 250 BTS, including more than 80 4G LTE BTS and nearly 110 3G BTS in the area, which is located almost 190km from Medan. The presence of sufficient telecommunication and data network becomes urgent considering that Asahan is located in area with direct border with international waters.