Tallinn/Jakarta. In Estonia, filing tax is often called a “national sport”. The process is very fast, simple, and fully digital. Most people can finish it in just three to five minutes. 

In Indonesia, the situation is still different. Even high-level officials can face difficulties. Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa recently needed help to file his tax report using the new Coretax system. The government extended the filing deadline from March 31 to the end of April after only about 60% of the targeted 15 million reports had been submitted. 

Estonia is often seen as one of the most advanced digital societies in the world. Almost all public services are available online. Citizens use a secure digital ID to access many services, such as voting, health records, and even shopping loyalty programs. This creates a system where people can interact with the government easily and quickly.

According to Johanna-Kadri Kuusk, a digital transformation adviser at the e-Estonia Briefing Centre, the biggest benefit of e-government services is time.

“Digital services give time back to people because they don’t need to deal with paperwork, long queues, or complicated processes. People can use this extra time for family, health, or work,” she told The Jakarta Globe during an exclusive media delegation trip from Indonesia to Estonia.

Another benefit is accessibility, Kuusk said. “When services are automated, more people can access them, even if they don’t fully understand the system. The government can also proactively offer services to citizens.”

Estonia’s digital journey started many years ago. In 1997, the Tiger Leap program was introduced to bring computers and internet access to schools. By 2000, all schools had computers, and by 2001, they were connected to the internet. This early investment helped build digital skills and created a strong foundation for future development.

By 2024, Estonia cemented its status as a global digital leader, becoming the first nation to offer 100% of government services online, including voting, business registration, and healthcare. The final service to be digitalized was divorce.

Today, Estonia is moving to the next stage by using artificial intelligence, which they call “Kratt”. The name comes from a mythological creature that can work for its owner but can also be dangerous if not controlled properly.

This reflects how AI can be very useful but also has risks. In the public sector, Estonia already uses AI in more than 2,000 cases. For example, AI helps doctors analyze medical data, but the final decision is still made by humans. In courts, AI can process large amounts of documents, but judges make the final ruling. AI is also used in agriculture and forestry, such as identifying crops from satellite images or detecting animals from camera footage.

Scale Changes Everything
For Indonesia, learning from Estonia is not easy. The two countries are very different. Estonia has about 1.3 million people and a small, relatively flat territory. Indonesia has more than 275 million people spread across a large archipelago. This makes coordination and infrastructure much more complex.

However, Indonesia is moving in the same direction by digitalizing government services. The main challenge is that many systems are still not integrated. Different institutions often use separate platforms, and data is not always synchronised.

Imam Abdul Rahman, an Indonesian who has lived in Estonia for more than three years, says the biggest difference is efficiency. In Estonia, many services are automatically connected. For example, financial data can directly link to tax reporting.

“Applying for benefits is simple and does not require visiting offices. In Indonesia, people often still need to bring documents and go to government offices. In Estonia, I rarely need to visit a bank because everything can be done online,” he told The Jakarta Globe.

He did not experience much culture shock adapting to the digital system. Instead, he found it more convenient, even compared to countries like Japan. He also feels that personal data is relatively safe, as data breaches are rare and people trust the government system.

Indonesia’s ambassador to Finland and Estonia, Ibnu Wahyutomo, said that one key lesson is improving interconnectivity between government institutions. However, he added that Indonesia’s size and geography make this more challenging.

“Better infrastructure and digital literacy among civil servants are needed. Indonesia should not only learn from Estonia, but also from countries with more similar conditions,” he concluded.