Inauguration of the Palapa Ring Project (Eastern Package): is a Step Forward For Indonesia
By: Wildan Nasution) *
The determination of the Indonesian government under the leadership of President Joko Widodo to develop the entire territory of Indonesia without favoritism has begun to be proven one by one and always gets a positive response from various groups of society. They believe Indonesia in the next 5 years under Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin will progress, develop and will more quickly lead to the achievement of welfare state.
Inauguration of the Palapa Ring project or eastern Package in Rote Ndao District, obtained responses from several sources related to the Inauguration of the Palapa Ring Project (Eastern Package) in Rote Ndao, NTT received positive responses from a number of community leaders in the area by saying that the construction of the Palapa Ring telecommunications infrastructure would later it is easier for the people of Rote Ndao to get access to telephone and internet services (data), because so far, in general, the constraints are that not all areas in Rote Ndao have been served because network provider operators have not yet entered in several places (in the form of BTS) in remote villages, so there are blankspot especially on the south side / part of Rote Ndao, starting from the southern part of East Rote, Pantai Baru Selatan, South Rote, to the southern part of the North West Rote.
“One district in Rote Ndao that does not yet have a telecommunications network is in Ndao Nuse Subdistrict, which is a sub-district consisting of 5 villages and consists of 3 islands that are separated from Rote Island as the main island so that the people of Ndao Nuse Subdistrict must head to the coast dealing with Rote Island to get a network, “said one resident.
Based on the author’s note, currently there are only two Base Transceiver Station (BTS), namely in Sotimori Village (Capital District) and in Daiama Village within the Landu Leko District, so it seems that the need for BTS is still needed especially to be placed in Daurendale and Desa Lifuleo which is still difficult to network.
An urgent need that needs to get the attention of the Ministry of Communication and Information and cellular operators is the expansion or addition of BTS to reach all of Landu Leko Subdistricts, because at present one tourist attraction in the sub-district namely Teluk Mulut Seribu has been designated as one of the priority destinations in NTT.
A radiant happiness can also be seen on the faces of the people of Nggodimeda Village and Siomeda Village, which are located in the Central Rote District because telephone and internet signals for the region are now getting better with the construction of optical fiber at the border locations of these two villages, also there are BTS that are sufficient network cover.
It seems that the government cannot do it alone to bring Indonesia’s steps forward, so that the role of the private sector is needed in supporting the development of this communication network, because the cross section of the private sector still considers the business benefits first in the BTS development plan, so once again synergy and necessary cooperation between the government and the private sector in the construction of BTS especially in border areas that require good telecommunications network defense infrastructure such as in Rote Ndao.
However, the inauguration of the Palapa Ring project included in the Eastern package clearly indicates Indonesia’s performance to become a developed country is increasingly clear. Theoretically, performance is formed from positive motivation coupled with positive abilities, and the Indonesian people have these conditions.
If the Palapa Ring project is completed in Indonesia, the national resilience of the Indonesian people will increase, patriotism will take root because positive literacy of the nation will spread throughout Indonesia and economic development will also increase, because of efforts to promote the beauty of tourism in the border areas or outer islands in Indonesia will be even easier, because the communication network is no longer disrupted.
) * Observer of social communication and mass communication problems.
