Unlocking Women’s Empowerment towards Digital Inclusivity in East Kalimantan through Digital Competence Evaluation

The ability to use different Internet-mediated forms is a basic competence in the digital era, which indicates that women, too, need to have adequate digital skills for daily activities. However, previous studies found that women have a lower digital literacy index than men due to their sociocultural role and expectations and less motivation to engage with technology among older individuals. Digital competence is essential to enhance digital inclusivity, especially for women in East Kalimantan Province, following the future challenges of the Capital City of Nusantara (IKN) development and Indonesia Digital Vision 2045. This study employed a quantitative approach, which entailed adapting seven dimensions of digital competence from the DigComp 2.0 model as research instruments: basic knowledge of hardware and software, information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, security, problem-solving, and career-related competencies. This study involved a sample size of 538 women. The findings offer theoretical insights into the employment of the DigComp 2.0 model within a specific context and recommendations for women’s empowerment strategies. The result showed that women’s digital competence level in East Kalimantan was high, except for the content creation and problem- solving. Another intriguing finding is that the level of education was not directly related to the level of digital competence, which contradicts previous studies. Future studies could employ the same instrument to corroborate the findings in this study across diverse sociocultural contexts in Indonesia. Another direction is to consider psychological variables that could influence digital competence

Muslim Ban during Trump’s Presidency through the Target Population Framework

One of the controversies that defined Donald Trump’s presidency was his travel ban policy, which targeted immigrants from many Muslim-majority countries in 2017. While researchers have analyzed the rhetoric, discourse, and indirect speech acts of President Trump and American politicians to fully understand the enforcement of the travel ban, the number of studies investigating how politicians utilize the social construction of immigrants to support or oppose the travel ban is limited. Hence, it is crucial to thoroughly study how political actors socially construct immigrants to justify their policy positions on the travel ban. In this article, we contextualize the travel ban policy within the literature on the social construction of target populations, one of the prominent theories of policy processes. To that end, we examine four types of data sources: legal documents, relevant tweets posted by politicians, think tank publications (op-eds, releases, and commentaries), and news articles published during the travel ban debates. In light of our analysis, we find that not only policymakers but also members of the judicial system, news media sources, and think tanks construct immigrant identities in a way that justifies their policy positions on the travel ban. Our findings underscore the need for a nuanced and well-rounded debate on travel restrictions concerning the reconstruction and reimagination of immigrant identities by various actors. We also contend that future research could greatly benefit from analyzing the social construction of immigrants by different policy actors in a comparative fashion

Problems of Good Governance in Managing Indonesia’s Borderland: The Case of Entikong Subdistrict

The present study explores the good governance processes of border management in Entikong Subdistrict. The Entikong Subdistrict in West Kalimantan is a priority district that receives special attention from Indonesian central and local governments. The Entikong border post started operating in 1989, making it the first land border in Indonesia. Nevertheless, despite its aged history and many development efforts within the area, the economic growth and welfare of the border community remained stagnant. The data for this article were collected through a field work in Entikong for four months in 2022 in which we conducted observation, interviews, and focus group discussion with local residents and government officers. This study reveals that good governance became the focal issue explaining Entikong’s lack of development by providing two problems in the border development at Entikong: 1) the government’s inconsistency on the road widening project and 2) the complexity of governance and bureaucracy. This paper further elaborates on the essence of locality in good governance practices while simultaneously addressing the authority division problems and communication towards the demands of the local community. This study argues that better public communication patterns should be implemented to avoid misunderstandings within the community and increase the participation of local citizens, government, and civil society in the development process of the border area

Modelling E-Government Maturity Determinants at the Local Level in Indonesia Using Technology-Organization-Environment Framework

Local governments in Indonesia have adopted e-government, but the maturity has not met the expected target. The distribution of the achievement of the SPBE index (as a representation of e-government maturity in the context of Indonesia) with a bare minimum “Good” predicate centered on the island of Java raises questions regarding the determinants of success. Existing studies and models on the determinants of e-government maturity mainly focus on local governments in developed countries. This study aims to explore the determinants in the context of local government in developing countries by proposing a new model using the Technology- Organization-Environment (TOE) Framework and assessing the model. The model comprises eight determinants reflecting three variables: technology, organisation, and environment, which can influence the level of e-government maturity in Indonesia. The assessment applies the PLS- SEM multivariate analysis method involving 383 district/city governments in Indonesia in 2021. The results show that the proposed model has adequate validity and reliability, indicating that technology factors (technology and electricity infrastructure), organisational factors (innovative, finance and HR capacity), and environmental factors (human capital, human development, and community welfare) have a significant positive effect on e-government maturity. However, the assessment shows that the model quality measurement is only 31.9% accurate, which is considered weak. Model refinement by strengthening the organisational and environmental variables is needed, and fit-model testing is suggested for further research

The Vote18 Polemic and Challenges of its Implementation in Malaysia

Vote18 in Malaysia aims to extend voting rights to individuals aged 18 and older from the former voting age threshold of 21 years and older. This article discusses the challenges associated with implementing Vote18 in Malaysia, aiming to fill the gaps in the scholarly debates on Vote18 and the obstacles to implementing it in Malaysia. Even though the federal constitutional amendment to implement Vote18 was ratified in 2019, its implementation was delayed by two years, raising the essential question: What is the rationale for its delay? The primary data were collected from interviews with four respondents, comprising current and past ministers who had a pivotal role in revising the federal constitution and implementing Vote18, whereas secondary data were gathered from books, journals, and online newspapers. The findings revealed four obstacles to implementing Vote18 in Malaysia. First, the state constitution or state body laws, including the Election Offenses Act 1954, the Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981, and the Registration of Electors Regulations 2002, must be amended before allowing people aged 18 and over to vote or run for office. Second, merging data and information stored by numerous government departments and agencies, such as the National Registration Department (NRD), is labour-intensive and time-consuming. Third, the development of a new voting system and the necessary infrastructure are still ongoing. Finally, the most critical hindrance is the government's lack of political will to ensure the initiative's success. Therefore, it can be concluded that lowering the age restriction is among the key components in reforming the Malaysian electoral system

Continuities of Public Service Innovations (PSIs) in Indonesia's Local Governments' Health Services: Whose Initiative Has a Higher Success Rate?

Public Service Innovations (PSIs) have improved public services and increased public values. However, previous studies have shown that public servants saw PSIs as risky interventions because of the perceived uncertain outcomes, lack of support and recognition, opposition against incumbent culture, and negative public scrutiny in case of failure. These perceived risks have led to risk-averse behaviour in public service and incremental or discontinued innovations. Earlier studies on PSIs’ continuity have focused on leadership, engagement, collaborations, and organisational cultures in developed countries. However, the mechanism of engagements, collaborations, organisational culture, and leadership types remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of sustainable PSIs in Indonesia and how authorities are exercised. In doing so, 11 PSIs in Indonesian health services—facilitated by staff or leaders—are compared and contrasted. The findings indicate that staff-initiated PSIs are prompted by community needs, use routine visits as a collaboration mechanism, and engage more stakeholders. The shortcoming is that the staff-initiated PSIs need more formal team assignments. The advantage is that they strengthen social capital and decrease community health problems. On the other hand, PSIs that were initiated by formal leaders are stimulated by formal antecedents, such as low achievement of development targets. Leaders-initiated PSIs also use capacity development programs to collaborate and increase the achievement of development targets. A novel finding to add to previous studies is that collaborating with other existing programs contributes to PSIs’ continuity. The managerial implication of this study is to stimulate front-liners in initiating PSIs

Cracking the Glass Ceiling: The Case of Women’s Empowerment in Promoting Village Tourism Development in Malang, Indonesia

This study analyses how the Family Empowerment and Welfare Mobilization (PKK) team plays a significant role in increasing village tourism development in Pujon Kidul, Malang Regency, East Java Province, Indonesia. We highlighted women's empowerment by categorising the social, economic, and political dimensions that contribute to the success. Using the case study method, we investigated the phenomenon in tourism development from 2011 to 2023 (12 years). Data was collected through in-depth interviews with key stakeholders to reveal the extent to which women have been “cracking their glass ceiling” in the three dimensions. The finding reveals that the PKK team could accommodate women's interests and actualise their aspirations and initiatives by promoting community movement (social dimension), allowing them to join SMEs and upskilling programs (economic dimension), and involving them in drafting village development plans and budgeting (political dimension). This study contributes to the literature on women’s empowerment, especially in the social, economic, and political dimensions of tourism development

Political Behaviour of the Indonesian Middle Class: Lower Turnouts in More Modernised Areas

The modernisation theory assumes that the larger the middle class, the more likely democracy is supported; for example, there will be more participation in elections, as shown in Western countries. However, there is no clear evidence on whether this trend also appears in developing countries. This study emphasises the association between the proportion of the middle class and the support for democracy in terms of voter turnout. Irrespective of the nature of the elections, we suppose that the modernisation level, proxied by the middle-class share, determines voter turnouts. Using data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) and the General Election Commission (KPU), we differentiate the voter turnouts in Indonesia's general election in 2019 at the district or city levels by grouping them into modernised and less-modernized regions, i.e., urban versus rural, Java versus outside Java, and western versus eastern regions. This study documented a deviation from the modernisation theory, evidenced by an unclear association between the proportion of the middle class and the voter turnout in the modernised areas. Counterintuitively, there are positive associations in the less modernised areas. The findings also reveal the selective participation among voters, as they showed different participation levels in the types of elections conducted in one day. They were more active in presidential elections than in parliamentary elections. In developing countries like Indonesia, the expansion of the middle class, followed by the declining number of rural regions, may lead to a decline in voter turnouts, thus raising demand for good governance and better performance of parties and candidates