Berly Martawardaya is a lecturer at University of Indonesia School of Economics and a senior economist at INDEF (Institute for Development of Economics and Finance). Martawardaya is also a PhD candidate in Economics at University of Siena in Italy. He received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Indonesia and MSc in Economics from Free University Amsterdam. He has presented scientific papers in international academic conferences in Australia, Japan, Italy, and France with research focus of growth, education, and game theory. He has contributed to op-ed columns in Kompas, Jakarta Post, Jakarta Globe, Gatra, Sindo, Business Week, and Brunei Times. His civil society involvements include Netherland Alumni Association, NU Profesional Circle, and Indonesia Development Evaluation Community (InDEC).by Berly Martawardaya
It was totally unexpected.
I was just finishing an afternoon prayer in the mosque nearby Faculty of Economics at the University of Brawijaya. The meeting in the mountainous city of East Java brings together cool heads of Economics and Development students all over Indonesia together. We were on the verge of establishing a national organization for Economics and Development students.
Students in this major are proud for their fellow alumni and lecturers as they are known as a driving force in national and regional planning agencies as well as expert members of most of welfare and economic related policy committees. And some of them become top executives or lawmakers. Moreover, TV shows and newspapers are not complete without economic section.
Considering the enormity of tasks in setting up development plans, which usually fall into alumni of 70+ public universities in Indonesia with Economics major, with ten percent of them doing most of the heavy lifting, it is imperative that during studentship period that we get to know each other to build networks early on.
Little did I know that at I was bumping into a different kind of wall soon after. More >