Building the resilience of National Vital Objects

On August 4, 2019, a number of areas in Jakarta, West Java, and Central Java experienced power outages for hours; even in some areas, electricity did not turn on until the evening. Information from PLN stated that 21.3 million customers were affected by the blackout. The impact of the power cut is not only for individual customers; industrial customers are also not immune from the impact of the power cut. The Commuter Line Electric Rail Train (KRL), Airport Train, and Long Distance Train (KAJJ), as well as Jakarta's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), cannot run due to the power outage. The telecommunication networks of Telkomsel, Indosat, XL, and a number of other providers could not be used at that time. Traffic lights at many points are also off. And of course, there are many other side effects that are impossible to list in this paper.

Disturbances to national vital objects did not stop with power outages; a number of incidents then took turns threatening national vital objects. During 2021, there was a fire at the Balongan Refinery and two fires at the Cilacap Refinery. During 2022, there were two fires at the Balik Papan Refinery, and the most recent was the fire at the Pertamina Plumpang Refinery on March 3, 2023. Apart from causing losses to the owners of vital objects, of course, they also harm customers who depend on oil for their business supply chain. produced and distributed by Pertamina.

Building the resilience of national vital objects is very important for a country because it involves sectors that are critical and strategic for the country's survival, security, and stability. National vital objects include assets, infrastructure, and resources that have a key role in maintaining sovereignty, economic growth, and people's welfare.

Based on Presidential Decree No. 63 of 2004 concerning Security for National Vital Objects, the Government has currently established approximately 11,000 national vital objects and certain vital objects, of which around 4,000 are national vital objects. The government requires that risks be managed for national vital objects and certain vital objects to prevent security disturbances, both criminal and non-criminal, and to control their impact if an incident occurs. Non-criminal security disturbances include disasters, demonstrations, and system disturbances.

The ministries that have designated national vital objects include the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of PUPR, the Ministry of Transportation, and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. For example, the Ministry of Industry has designated 23 industrial estates as national vital objects in the industrial sector, taking into account that these industries are large-scale, capital-intensive, and labor-intensive. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has also determined 546 national vital objects in the sub-sectors of oil and gas, electricity, minerals, and coal, as well as new and renewable energy and energy conversion.

So, have the owners or managers of national vital objects prepared a recovery and continuity plan if their priority functions are disrupted? And how resilient are the owners and managers of vital national objects facing unexpected disturbances? Even though the impact caused by the lack of supply of goods and services from the managers and owners of these vital objects is very large for the community, or even for the economy, security, and state sovereignty,

Indeed, a number of risk mitigation measures have been taken to prevent disruption to national vital object installations, such as the implementation of quality standards or occupational health and safety system standards (SMK3). However, these disasters often occur beyond human control. So it is also necessary to ensure the availability of adequate controls for the impact caused by these disturbances so that the functions of these vital national objects for service, security, and state sovereignty can continue. Control over the impact of disturbances on the functioning of this national vital object became the discipline of Business Continuity Management systems (BCMS), which were later adopted by the National Standardization Agency (BSN) to become business continuity management systems (SMKU) as stipulated in the SNI (Indonesian National Standard) ISO 22301.

Due to the increasing number of owners and managers of national vital objects who have not managed the impact of a disturbance and the lack of awareness to implement SMKU in Indonesia, it is appropriate for the Government to take a firm stance to ensure that all national vital objects have SMKU. Because the impact caused by disturbances of national vital objects is felt not only by the owners and managers of these national vital objects but also by society and the country's economy in general,

The resilience of vital national objects can only be built with proper risk management. SMKU is one of the forms of risk management that must be implemented by organizations that want to save the achievement of their goals, especially the continuity of national vital objects.

Overall, building the resilience of national vital objects is a strategic step to maintaining the continuity, security, and sovereignty of a country. This effort needs to involve comprehensive and integrated collaboration between the government, the private sector, and the community in order to identify vital objects, increase infrastructure resilience, and implement preventive measures needed to protect national assets and interests. Thus, the state can be better prepared to face future challenges and achieve prosperity for all its people.

Haldi Zusrijan Panjaitan, ST, MT, BCMCP, CBCI, CDCP

Co-Founder of InCRA

haldi.panjaitan@incra.id