SBM ITB Jakarta Campus held Leadership Night 2021 to award students, lecturers, alumni, classes, and the best education staff of SBM ITB Jakarta Campus. This event is held regularly every year since 2010. Not only that, The online Leadership Night, on Thursday (11/11/2021), also invited the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Budi Gunadi Sadikin, as a speaker in a fireside chat entitled “Managing Crisis: Taking Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia.” 
Known as an expert in leading various organizations in different fields, the Minister has a very interesting career history. Holding a bachelor’s degree from the ITB Nuclear Physics Study Program in 1988, Mr. Budi has a long career track in the banking industry. He once served as President Director of PT Bank Mandiri. His ability to lead the company also made him the President Director of PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminum (INALUM) and the Deputy Minister of BUMN (state-owned enterprises), before his current occupation as Minister of Health.
Mr. Budi talked a little about how he could become the Minister of Health, despite his educational background as an engineer and most of his working experience is in the banking industry. Claiming to be ‘unable to refuse the invitation from the President,’ he regards his profession as a minister to be greater than just worldly affairs. Instead, he sees it as an ‘investment’ oriented to the afterlife. He views the mandate of being responsible for the health of 272+ million people in Indonesia as a form of worship to God.
Before showing the extraordinary performance in dealing with the Indonesian pandemic, the Minister, also a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), has previously overcome other crises. When he was entrusted as the Regional Manager of PT Bank Bali in Jakarta in 1998, he managed to reduce the chaos due to the burning and looting the bank’s branch offices in the city. Meanwhile, during his service at Bank Mandiri, he had faced non-performing loan problems and was able to maintain customer trust. At INALUM, he was also involved in the ownership acquisition process of Freeport-McMoRan company subsidiary in Indonesia, so it could become state-owned in the majority, an issue that has been pursued since the leadership of the previous five Indonesian presidents. It is the past challenges that have shaped his current expertise.
When asked about the key to his success in every job he does, Mr. Budi replied, “If we want to be successful at work, every time we get a job, we must be enthusiastic, passionate, happy, and enjoy the work, and try to give our best.” He also mentioned the importance of working with heart, not just being profit-oriented.
In making important decisions that affect many people, the Minister said that decision-makers must be creative. In addition, the decision-maker also should not be reluctant to communicate and seek experts’ opinions. He believes that the wisdom useful for decision-making does not only come from knowledge but is formed from people’s experiences inside and outside our organization.
This is in line with the demands of his job. As a person who does not have an educational or professional background in the health sector, he relies on experts in the Ministry he is leading, especially to provide him with insight regarding the pandemic. One of the things he learned by discussing with health experts at the Ministry was the fact that humanity will always survive a pandemic, one fact that encouraged him to keep the passion in continuation of suppressing the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia.
Apart from the contributions of experts and policymakers, Mr. Budi also did not forget to mention the power of the social sharing economy concept in Indonesia. He explained the public’s big role in solving the pandemic problems, both coming from individuals and corporations. He also explained the participation of various startups that overcame various problems caused by the pandemic in Indonesia, with assistance in the form of fundraising to operational assistance. The role of collaborating their strengths in dealing with COVID-19. Mr. Budi once said to President Joko Widodo, “I cannot do this alone. But I believe I can do it if we do it together. It could not be an exclusive program of the Ministry of health, but the program of the whole country as well.”
Furthermore, the Minister of Health was also discussing the agenda planned for the upcoming G20 Presidency of Indonesia 2022, particularly related to health issues. He said that he was among those who would represent Indonesia to discuss global health at the event. Several matters that Mr. Budi will discuss and suggest at the forum include:
- The reinvention of the global healthcare system: Looking at the worldwide shock due to the failure of the health system we all have been proud of. Mr. Budi took the example of global banking and finance to be adapted by the world healthcare system. If there is one country experiencing a financial problem, IMF and World Bank will always be ready to help and anticipate problems in the country. It is necessary to integrate institutions, mechanisms, governance, instruments, and key leaders’ participation in the global healthcare system. Mr. Budi agrees with Bill Gates’ opinion that we should be more vigilant, careful, and focus on such matters (health issues) rather than spending money to invest in war and weaponry technology.
- Emergency to medical resources: It is not just about money; the availability of emergency supplies for various medical needs to deal with pandemics is also necessary to be prepared by the global mechanism mentioned at the previous point. During the COVID-19 pandemic, even wealthy people sometimes find it difficult to get essential health necessities, such as masks, oxygen tubes, vaccines, etc. The problem should not be repeated in the future.
- Global surveillance model to predict and prevent the next pandemic: In modern days, no one can expect that a disease can be spread from one continent to another in just a few days. Therefore, we must have a global surveillance system to monitor disease development in a region, preventing it from going worldwide. Humanity has built a global system to prevent missile attacks from other countries but has not yet built a capable system to contain virus spreading. In more detail, Mr. Budi also mentioned the importance of follow-up monitoring of disease by increasing the number of genome sequencing tests to prevent the emergence of new disease or virus variants.
In addition to the fireside chat with Mr. Budi Gunadi Sadikin, the Minister of Health of Indonesia, the SBM ITB Leadership Night 2021 also announced the TK Low Scholarship for SBM ITB’ outstanding students. The scholarship was provided by Dato’ Dr. Low Tuck Kwong, who has been sharing his generosity for SBM ITB for a long time, followed by the awards ceremony for students, lecturers, alumni, classes, and the best education staff of SBM ITB Jakarta Campus. The event was also enlivened by musical performances contributed by lecturers and students.
Written by Student Reporter (Mochamad Daffa, Management 2022)