The Indonesian resource curse: Indonesia remains scoring very low in its education
By: O.Safitrie*)
“We are part to blame, but this is the curse of being born with a copper spoon in our mouths”
-Kenneth Kaunda-
-Zambia first president-
Indonesia remains scoring very low in the latest OECD’s standardized Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam test released last month. The country ranked 69th out of 76 countries.
This 2015 result is as bad as the previous one released in 2012. According to 2012 report, Indonesian students were ranked as the happiest but scored very low in Math, Science, and Reading with the overall ranking was 64th out of 65 countries.
Another index published by UNDP also does not show a positive remark. With an incredible overall economic development, Indonesia’s human development only rank 108th out of 187 countries. Pearson’s Global Index of Cognitive Skills and Educational Attainment compiled by Economist Intelligence Unit presents an even worse ranking for Indonesia. The country ranked last within 1% standard deviation below the mean or ranked 40th out of 50.
Such poor indicators of human development might contribute to low level of innovation. According to Global Innovation Index (GII) reported by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization, Indonesia ranked 87th out of 143 countries in 2014. This is far below its neighbor Singapore that ranked 7th and Malaysia that ranked 33rd. In terms of competitiveness, Indonesia also ranked below Singapore and Malaysia, even Thailand. Indonesia ranked 34th while the three countries ranked 2nd, 20th, and 31st respectively.
Looking at all those statistics, people may wonder how these could happen. A theory that might explain this phenomenon is the resource curse hypothesis.
The abundance of naturally endowed natural resources is definitely good for a country. It can be used to fulfill domestic demand and also as a source of revenue for government so that the government will have sufficient fund to develop the country. However, due to many factors, such blessing might become a curse that will impede country’s development, especially in economic perspective. Instead of promoting a high grow rate, the abundance of natural resources sometimes are followed by a slow growth or lower level of economic development.
Looking at the outstanding economic growth, Indonesia is claimed as a country that presents success story in escaping resource curse together with some other ASEAN member countries. Yet, the factor behind the high economic growth, especially in Indonesia, might vary. High growth might not always mean a sustainable growth. Sound macroeconomic policies likely to be short-sighted without any attempt to develop human capital capacity. Looking at the economic development process, we may say that resource curse exists in Indonesian economy. This may also be the factor behind Indonesia’s slowing economy this quarter.
*)The Author Is Singapore Contributor
