Roadmap to Prosperity
Setyono Djuandi Darmono launches his fifth book, ‘Building a Ship While Sailing’, which outlines his visionary outlook on entrepreneurship
"Indonesa’s independence fighters lacked a clear blueprint in the 1940s when they set out to establish the nation. However, with Unity in Diversity, Pancasila (the nation’s five pillars), and their courage and drive to achieve independence, the Founding Fathers did manage to build a ship.” Thus starts the story of the development of Indonesia written in flowing sentences by Setyono Djuandi Darmono, president commissioner of publicly listed industrial estate developer PT Jababeka.
Building A Ship While Sailing is a roadmap by Darmono to help the government build 100 new townships. In his speech, the entrepreneur explains that the book outlines his vision of building the country while at the same time working towards self-reliance. The title is inspired by a famous quote by senior economist Professor Emil Salim: “Indonesia built its country like building a ship while sailing.”
The book, says the Yogyakarta-born tycoon at its launch in Jakarta, is his reflection and contribution in helping the government set out its goals for a just and prosperous society. “Actually, this book is written based on our common interest to fight poverty, which has caused a social gap,” says Darmono, adding that the book is published in a bid to fulfil the government’s request for PT Jababeka to set up 100 new townships based on industry. “To create 100 million middle-class jobs, how long will it take? So we must start from now.”
Drawing on his wide experience as a businessman and a leader in Indonesia, Darmono discusses contemporary issues such as Indonesia’s development, its strengths, its future, and also its areas of weakness, such as inadequacy in education and the failure of some institutions of higher learning to produce graduates who are able to face challenges. A chapter is devoted to tourism and how it can be grown to help the country prosper, while another focuses on the challenges of urbanisation and the cyber age.
With its detailed discussions covering a wide range of issues including practical suggestions on development, the book is suitable for anyone with an interest in the culturally and geographically diverse country of Indonesia, as well as for entrepreneurs eyeing investment in Indonesia. The book features introductions by academic, intellectual, and media columnist Professor Komaruddin Hidayat and Dr J Scott Younger, the International Chancellor of President University in Indonesia.
Building a Ship While Sailing is the fifth book written by Setyono Djuandi Darmono. Others include One City, One Factory (2009) and Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast (2015), a book on self-development that has been translated into Mandarin. Building a Ship While Sailing has also been translated into English and circulated in Singapore.