To support the success of the 2020 Population Census (SP2020), the University of Indonesia through the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences actively participated by involving 100 students from the statistics study program as census friends who played a role in improving respon rate SP Online.
The University of Indonesia is a member of the Indonesian Statistics Higher Education Forum (Forstat). The shared expertise of statistics departments, study programs, and majors provides a powerful foundation for coordination and consolidation, making UI's involvement in the 2020 Statistics Population Census implementation crucial.
The concrete form of FMIPA UI's involvement is by inviting, guiding, and persuading people in their respective university environments, families, and the surrounding community through the role of Census Friends.
As a form of commitment and a sign of the inauguration of the census friends members to carry out their duties, they were confirmed by reciting the census friends oath, and were provided with more detailed knowledge about the 2020 Population Census, including filling out the 2020 online population census together (Ngibar).
The inauguration took place during the Campus Coordination Meeting (Rakorpus) held by the West Java Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in collaboration with the University of Indonesia (UI) today, Thursday (March 5, 2020) at the Sinarmas Hall, Multidisciplinary Research Lab, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, UI-PT. Pertamina.
Dr. Agung Waluyo, Director of Community Service and Empowerment, representing the UI Chancellor, stated that through this collaboration, University of Indonesia statistics students fully support the 2020 Census. One concrete step in realizing this support is the current membership of 100 students, the majority from the Statistics Undergraduate Program, as Census Friends.
"In carrying out their role as Census Friends, these 100 students were accompanied by 20 lecturers from the Mathematics Department, FMIPA UI," said Dr. Agung.
Furthermore, he said, student enthusiasm to join as Census Friends is very high, as evidenced by the increasing number of registrants, so a selection process is needed to find 100 people with a high commitment to making the 2020 Census a success.
Following Dr. Agung's statement, the Dean of FMIPA UI, Dr. Rokhmatuloh, M.Eng., in his remarks, ensured that Census Friends are ready to socialize and publish the 2020 Census, as an effort to increase awareness and understanding of the 2020 Census among academic groups/communities/citizens. Starting from the simplest thing, namely publication on their respective social media pages.
"Census Friends, with support from lecturers, are also ready to counter hoaxes, if any, usually related to data security or the implementation of this online census," he stressed.
He also invited the entire academic community of the University of Indonesia to participate in making the 2020 Population Census a success by filling in the data independently through sensus.bps.go.id.
Based on data from BPS, the population census in Indonesia has been carried out six times since Indonesia's independence, namely in 1961, 1971, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010.
Dr. Margo Yuwono, Deputy for Social Statistics at BPS RI, in his remarks said that the implementation of SP2020 was the first population census to be held with several innovations that had never been carried out in previous censuses.
One of the innovations is in the field of census methodology, where for decades traditional methods have been used, we will switch to a combination method (combined method) through the use of population administration data from the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration (Ditjen Dukcapil).
"Indonesia is now entering a golden age, and population data is crucial to ensure government policies are not misguided," Margo emphasized.
The main objective of SP2020 is to provide data on the number, composition, distribution, and characteristics of the Indonesian population towards "ONE INDONESIAN POPULATION DATA".
With the realization of a single Indonesian population data as a population database, Margo continued, it will be utilized not only by ministries/institutions (K/L) but also by non-governmental organizations in formulating policies that are precisely targeted.
"Population data that reflects field conditions, and can present data down to the smallest administrative area, is highly anticipated by many," he said.
Regarding the data collection period, Margo explained that the data collection will be carried out in two stages, namely SP Online on February 15 – March 31, 2020 and SP Interview on July 1-31, 2020.
BPS also provides residents with the option to choose a stage that suits their level of mobility.
"Now BPS is giving residents a choice: online or through an interview," said Margo.
"For people with high mobility, we urge you to choose the Online Population Census in the 2020 Population Census," he urged.
