Table of Content

IFI (Institut Français d’Indonésie) Excellence Scholarship 1

Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship 2 Fulbright

Scholarship 4 Chevening Scholarship 6 Erasmus Mundus

Scholarship 11 New Zealand Scholarship 13 GKS (Global

Korean Scholarship) 15

YSEALI (Young Southeast Asian Leaders

Initiative) Scholarship 20

LPDP (Lembaga Pengelola Dana

Pendidikan) Scholarship 21 Monbukagakusho/MEXT

Scholarship 25

IFI (Institut Français d’Indonésie)

Excellence Scholarship

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to apply for the IFI Excellence Scholarship for my Master’s Degree
in International Relations at Université de Strasbourg.

Having graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Economics from

Universitas Sam Ratulangi, I have always been having the interest to further
my study in France. Talking about international relations and world politics, we
can never leave France out of the discussion. In addition to being one of the
world’s major powers in regards to military and economy, France also has
its language widespread around the world and as one of the official
languages of the United Nations. It triggered me to learn more about
international relations from the country, especially, focusing on international
development and cooperation because France is one of the biggest donors
of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) worldwide. I believe that I can
learn so much from the country.

Reflecting on my two-year experience as a junior researcher at a local think

tank, I believe that the master’s programme I have been accepted at will
polish my skills and equip me with the necessary knowledge needed for my
future career aspiration as an Indonesian diplomat. I intend to explore more
on contemporary France-Indonesia relations – with one of the causes being
the number of tourists from both countries visiting each other is massive,
indicating that prior strong ties have already been formed.

After finishing my study in France, I will enroll myself in the national selection
exam for civil servants candidate, particularly at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. I believe that my competence, experience, and French language
proficiency will help me to realise my long-term goal of fostering closer
relationships between Indonesia and France – and between Indonesia and
other Francophone countries in general. I am certain that Indonesia will be
able to build even stronger relationships if it is being represented by someone
who is experienced and knows the placement country well.

Thank you very much for your kind consideration.

Stipendium
Hungaricum Scholarship

Having always been fascinated about what is happening in the world

since I was a child brought me to learning 9 foreign languages in addition
to my two native tongues, Indonesian and Sundanese. Learning different
languages provided me with different ways of perceiving the world and
human interaction. My hunger for the knowledge of what is happening in
the world finally landed me in the field of Political Science, where my subject
of interest, International Relations, is beneath.

I was not informed enough about the country of Hungary prior to pursuing
my Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. I still remember that Hungary
was then mentioned so often when I was taking a subject called Modern
History of Europe. That moment triggered me to look for more
information about Hungary. The more I was informed, the more my desire
to further my education in Hungary becomes. I then set a target that I will
pursue my Master’s Degree in Hungary, in the field of International
Relations.

As someone who loves learning about languages and cultures, I always

keep in my mind that Stipendium Hungaricum will be able to facilitate me
to reach my dream of studying in Hungary and learning about its language
and culture as well. I imagine myself being able to speak Hungarian and
 experience a great quality of education should I be chosen as a Stipendium
Hungaricum scholar.

I have no doubt when it comes to packing my things to go to new places to

learn new things. I have volunteered myself across three countries: Indonesia,
Malaysia, and South Korea. All of those volunteering programmes were fully
funded by the organising parties because I was chosen among thousands
of people to be able to involve myself in.

I also do not have any problems when it comes to mingling around and
socialising with new people. I currently am finishing my Bachelor’s Degree
in an international university and my friends come from over 120 countries
worldwide. However, majority of us are Muslims as our campus is an Islamic
university. Should I be chosen as a Stipendium Hungaricum scholar, it will
give me a new experience: living as a Muslim in non-Muslim majority country.
I am sure that I will be able to learn many things from such experience.

2
I aim to become an expert in International Relations. My country, Indonesia, is
such a great country as we are endowed by abundant of natural and human
resources. However, our country is categorised as lower-middle income country
by the World Bank. There are so many problems to be solved to make our
country great. One of it is in the field of International Relations and Diplomacy.
I opt to pursue this path to contribute to my country.

By becoming an expert in International Relations, I will be able to advise

the government. I plan to apply to become a government adviser in the
field of International Relations so that I can make sure that I can contribute
directly to Indonesian foreign relations with other countries. By doing that, I
will also be able to make sure that Indonesian foreign relations are positive
sum situation or mutually beneficial.
 3

Fulbright Scholarship

Infrastructure is a primary driver for economic growth of a nation. As a

developing country, Indonesia is upgrading its infrastructure development
and equitably expanding it throughout the country in order to reduce a gap
between Eastern and Western Indonesia. Located in a complex geological
condition urges geotechnical engineering to be conducted as an essential
part of preliminary study for civil engineering works in Indonesia in order to
prevent construction failure. During earning a bachelor degree in Department
of Geological Engineering Universitas Gadjah Mada, I focused my study on
environmental geology in which geotechnics becomes one of the elective
subjects. Having a sound knowledge in understanding ground condition and
predicting potential geological hazards is the strength of a geologist. However,
realizing that geotechnical engineering also encompasses civil engineering
study which I have not deeply learned in my undergraduate program, I
decide to pursue master degree in geotechnical engineering particularly in
underground construction and tunneling.

As a result of my excellent academic, I was chosen to participate in Indonesia

Geology Olympiad 2014 as a leader of engineering geology and hydrogeology
team. It was a valuable chance to enhance my knowledge especially in slope
stability. I obtained real experience by joining a community development
service in 2013 empowering people about landslide mitigation of the area. It
became a pioneer of landslide mitigation in Kandangserang, Pekalongan
which then followed by installing early warning system (EWS) in the next
year. After accomplishing my study, I assisted my lecturer as a site engineer
conducting geotechnical preliminary study of a villa construction built on a
weathered andesitic hill slope. I always challenge myself to study other topics of
geotechnical engineering. I am currently having a work as a research assistant
of GEOCAP project studying geomechanics in geothermal reservoir. Although I
have learned a lot of topics, underground construction and tunneling has
always attracted my interest. I believe it is projected as a future technology in
Indonesia especially in overcoming traffic congestion. However, researches
related to this have not well developed yet. Studying this topic in developed
country with sophisticated construction technology will completely improve
my theoretical and technical skills.

4
Although I have never traveled to US, I have explored the quality of geotechnical
engineering in the US by reading textbook. Most of fundamental textbooks in
geotechnical engineering come from US universities, making US becomes a
house of dreams for people who want to advance their knowledge in this study.
Furthermore, abundant chance of professional career as a geotechnical engineer
enables me to gain practical experience by taking an internship. Excellent
academic research and professional career will be a perfect combination of
experience I will obtain from US.

By continuing my study abroad will broaden my horizon and enhance my

competitiveness in facing ASEAN Economic Community and other global
communities. Upon completing my master degree in geotechnical engineering, I
hope I could give contribution to research and academic sector. Lecturers in
my department, especially who teach engineering geology and geotechnical
engineering, earned their postgraduate degree in Japan, Australia, and Europe. It
might be the time to bring experience from US. Being a Fulbright awardee
will open my way in connecting a joint research between US universities and
my department. In addition, Universitas Gadjah Mada, in collaboration with
Ministry of Public Works and Housing (KemenPU-PERA), is planning to open
the first tunnel engineering program in Indonesia. It would be a good chance
to implement my knowledge and upgrade the quality of geotechnics
research which still becomes the second priority in my department.

In summing up, deciding to continue my study in the US is not only for personal
ambition to boost my career but the most important thing is I could obtain
international experience in which later its positive value will be adopted to be a
better Indonesia particularly for its infrastructure quality.

Chevening Scholarship

Leadership & Influence Essay

I believe that leadership is one of my strongest qualities as I’ve had times

 where I needed it for survival. Back when I started attending university, I
had to learn to live independently both financially and individually. In
order to do so, I had to establish a small start up to cover my living costs in
Surabaya. One of my successful venture into the world of business began
when I was blessed with the opportunity of becoming the co-founder of
CV kreasi Indonesia, a game and software developer I managed to use my
leadership skills to develop the company’s system and eventually increase
the number of employees from 2 co-founders to 2 co-founders + 7 employees
by maintaining efficient workshifts and number of team members.

During my time at the university, I was given a chance to lead an organization

named SUBMIT!, which focused on the development of small-medium
enterprises (SME) in the province of East Java . Although this organization was
relatively new, I managed to lead the organization to organize seminars and
workshops that aimed to help young entrepreneurs in finding the solutions of
their problems. We collaborated with people from companies that have
good national reputation such as Astra International to ensure that we could
provide speakers that can share relevant knowledge to the participants.

My passion in influencing people eventually brought me to aid the

development of an SME in Tuban. With my team, I managed to work together
with the locals in making an innovative product based on legen, the sap
of siwalan trees. We gave additional value to legen by giving it a proper
packaging, a brand name, and also clinical tests so that it would be more
popular and could be sold with a high price. The product was then distributed
in various stores in several cities, namely Surabaya, Tuban and Jakarta. In
the end, this product was also accepted by the large supermarkets, such as
Carrefour and Giant and was distributed in all areas in East Java. I was so
grateful that this project could increase their revenue of people in Tuban by
20%-30% and eventually assisted the development of a village in their area.

Henceforth, based on my experiences, I believe that I am a suitable candidate

for this scholarship, as I’ve had experiences in managing a team, influencing
people, and eventually giving impact to a rural area in my home nation.

6
Networking Essay

The demand of my professions as an entrepreneur and a student eventually

led me to start making business networks. When I was an active member at
the Karya Salemba Empat (KSE), a national scholarship which focused on
social entrepreneurship, I had opportunities to participate in several programs,
namely young socio entrepreneur camp. In this program, I obtained a new
knowledge about developing social business starting from influencing the
local people to join our project to promoting the product. Furthermore, I was
able to learn about social entrepreneurship from the experts, especially from
Indofood, which is one of the biggest food companies in Indonesia.
Additionally, I am able to communicate indirectly to 10,000 alumni from this
scholarship. Another benefit of my networking experience comes from Danone
Scholarship, where I was able to learn many things about developing small-
medium enterprise in Tuban, in which they gave us funding to expand the
SME. Thanks to my excellent job in the enterprise development, my network
in Danone eventually offered me to become a supervisor in their company,
but in the end I did not accept the offer, as I’m more interested in continuing
my entrepreneurship journey.

Apart from scholarship network, I have participated in some business

organization such as HIPMI, a government business organization in
Indonesia. In this organization, I was able to meet some entrepreneurs who
are experts in their respective fields and I was able to learn a lot about
business from them, which includes cost minimization. Furthermore, I also
have a close relationship with Argabayu, a non-profit organization that
encourages the Youth of Nganjuk to continue their studies until they can
earn their bachelor degrees. In 2015 I was honored to be a speaker at the
Regional Seminar in Nganjuk that focused on the Golden Generation of
Indonesia, and in same year I received an invitation from my University, one
of best university of Indonesia, to be a speaker at an Entrepreneur
community.

In my hometown, I have a good relationship with the local people and the
local government. My family had already built network among them and we
have good reputation in my hometown. My family’s social organization is funded
partly from these relations. Sometimes, we obtain donation for building new
classrooms or adding new facilities.

7
To sum up, I will be more than glad to participate in any kind of events in
collaboration with other Chevening Alumni as it will be a great
opportunity for me to expand my network and bring good impact to both
Indonesia and the UK through discussions of global issues.

Study in the UK Essay Scholarship

My biggest passion has always been in the field of business and its operations.
This passion would eventually lead me to establish my first enterprise at a
very young age, while I was studying at university. To continue this
passion, I plan to pursue a master’s degree in the United Kingdom, a
country that is well known for its excellent educational facilities.
Additionally, it also has more than 430.000 international students, which
would allow me to socialize with students from different backgrounds,
languages, and cultures. More specifically, I plan to take a master degree
 in entrepreneurship in one of the three universities I had chosen because I
realized that a comprehensive education related to my expertise in
business is essential in achieving my goals and career plans. Therefore,
obtaining education through the courses I have selected and boosted by
my experience, will help me to become an entrepreneur with profound
skills.

There are some programs offered by universities in the UK that suit my

interests and future plans. The program that I’m most interested in would
be the Master of Enterprise program offered by the University of Leeds as
the program is designed not for modern business, but specifically for
small business enterprise, proved by the fact that it has won the Business
Charter Award. The programme has a stellar record in job placements having
4,700 of its alumnus active in Britain’s micro-business and start-up sector..
Henceforth, as a prospective student who has a strong background in SME, I
believe this course is the most suitable one for me as it focuses entirely on
SME development. Alternatively, other programmes that also draw my
interests are the master of entrepreneurship and innovation programs
offered by Warwick University and Nottingham University. Those universities
have the same major but their curriculum focuses are different. In Warwick,
students are encouraged to develop and practice skills for making appropriate
judgments, regarding the choices in their business development. On the

8
other hand, in Nottingham students are required to combine their business
with their latest technology and opportunity. Based on the curriculums I see
that any of the three universities mentioned above would help me to maximize
my potential to be a good entrepreneur in my hometown.

Career Plan Essay

In the 2040, it is predicted that Indonesia will become one of the economic
leaders of the world. However, I am uncertain that my hometown, Nganjuk,
would be able to experience such things in such a short time as it’s been 1000
years since its inception and Nganjuk is still one of the rural areas in Indonesia
that has the lowest level of productivity and income. Based on this situation, it
has always been my dream to be involved in my nation’s development process
by participating in the field that I am able to contribute in, which is Business
and Economics: I want to ensure that Indonesia’s ambitious development
goals are not merely wishful thinking, starting from myself.

With that in mind, my first objective is to gain more knowledge and experience
in business by continuing my studies. For the short term, my plan would be to
return to my home country and establish another business firm. This time, I plan
to establish business that are based on agricultural resources. I think it would
take around 1–5 years to ensure that my business can run well. In the trade
sector, South-East Asian countries, particularly Indonesia have high potential to
conduct more and more trade activities with the UK in the upcoming years. As,
one of the key partners of the UK, Indonesian companies/citizens have
opportunities to conduct export and import activities with companies from the
UK. In this case, as a prospective Chevening alumnus I would like to become
a bridge between Indonesia and the UK by participating in the export sector
by supplying high quality agricultural product with reasonable price, which
would help to fulfill the product demand in the UK

Besides, I want to develop Chony Zamany, my family’s non-profit organization

that is located in countryside of Nganjuk. Today, we have established a
vocational school and a kindergarten, and also provide non-formal education so
that local people can earn better education. This organization received
funding from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) division of some
companies and also

9
the local government. After I’ve finished my studies, I want to implement
a blueprint in which this organization would be able to develop its own
business and allow the vocational student to do a part time job to cover
their living costs. Furthermore. I also aspire to establish an agreement with
several companies so that these students would be able to earn appropriate
jobs after they are done with their vocational school.

In the long term, I would like to participate in government programs that

are designed to aid the development of small medium enterprises. As I
see that people in Nganjuk would respect and listen to people with a high
social stature and education, with a higher degree on hand, I would be
able to dedicate myself to develop Nganjuk starting from helping the
development of local Small-to-Medium-Enterprises, aspiring
entrepreneurs to develop businesses that will boost local employment, to
even improving education and socio-economic conditions.
10

Erasmus Mundus
Scholarship

Getting a first-class honours degree from a university abroad, being awarded

some scholarships to study overseas by the age of 23 and living amongst
international communities for years have led me to realising that I have built my
privileges despite not originating from a well-off family. Having gone through a
tale of two cities, Depok and Bolaang Mongondow, made me realise how
lucky I am simply because I was born near the capital.

During my time in Bolaang Mongondow, I was saddened to discover that

Bolaang Mongondow, and other less developed places, faces a serious
challenge in education regarding the lack of competence among the
teachers – hence causing less opportunity provided to engage on subjects
or interests the students might have. However, I believe that it is better to
light a candle than to curse the darkness. That is why I have initiated a
movement to teach more than a thousand Indonesians for the past several
years through various means online and offline. In addition, I also routinely
impart my knowledge and experiences to various communities of about
three thousand people. To extend my contribution, I joined an online
education technology start-up as Product Development and Operational
Manager, with the aim to provide affordable and quality education for
everyone, particularly the young generation, regardless of where they live.

Currently, Indonesia has a long-term priority goal of fully applying the policy of
Merdeka Belajar (Independent Learning) which allows each school to formulate
its own ways to attain knowledge. Also, the facts that I have been living in both
rural and urban areas, have networks of scholars and practitioners in the field in
both of them, and have been working in the education sector for the past 4
years have been intriguing me to further my study in the field of education
policy to help contributing towards a more equal education in the country.
That is why I will be choosing the Global Social and Education Policies pathway
offered by the University of Bremen. In addition to that, I also envision
myself doing a research internship at Deakin University to prepare myself even
better for my future career aspiration in the field of education policy in
Indonesia.

My short-term contribution will start in the 2nd year of pursuing the

programme. I will cooperate with my networks in the small municipality of
Bolaang Mongondow to design and execute training programmes suitable for
teachers
 11

who are “left behind“ to reduce the gap between them and those in the city. As
a madrasa graduate myself, I would like to focus on teachers of madrasas in the
municipality because my they are left further behind than those from “normal
school” due to the current system. I have communicated my plan with the
coordinator of Merdeka Belajar (Independent Learning) policy implementation
in the province, and she has agreed to be involved with the project and involve
her networks in it. The expected outcome will be the increasing competence
amongst madrasa teachers, particularly in Bolaang Mongondow. I envision
myself doing this project for my master’s thesis.

Upon completion of the programme, I will return to Indonesia to join the

Ministry of Education with the mission of formulating and evaluating policies
which will make Indonesian education more equal.

12

New Zealand Scholarship

The phenomenon of fast-growing population in Indonesia has caused the
high rise of national beef and milk demand, however, this condition is not
supported by national production to suffice population’s demand. Based on
the data by Central Data and Agriculture Information System (PUSDATIN),
Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture in “Milk Outlook 2016” and “Beef Outlook
2016” it is predicted that in 2017-2020 Indonesia will be deficit in milk availability
up to 103.000 ton and in 2019 Indonesia will be deficit of beef availability
approximately 203.520 ton. The slow growth of cattle population and its low
productivity is one of the main reasons for this insufficiency. Riethmuller
and Dominic Smith (1999) have demonstrated some major problems which
occur in Indonesia’s dairy farms. These problems include poor nutrition, poor
reproductive management and performance, poor hygiene, poor disease
management, long calving interval and lack of resources to train the workers.
Truthfully, this condition also occurred in beef cattle farming in Indonesia, and
it still remains an unsolved problem up until now.

Therefore, to develop the Indonesian agricultural sector in cattle agribusiness, a

deeper knowledge about cattle reproduction and animal health management
is essential to boost Indonesia’s cattle population. I believe that if we study how
to be successful in cattle farming from a country which “already succeeded”,
such as New Zealand, it will support Indonesia to develop the agribusiness
sector, especially in cattle production to suffice our national beef and milk
demands. By making New Zealand a role model for cattle agribusiness, I am
optimistic that we can support the government program for self-sufficing
meat and milk.

In New Zealand, there is only one university which has veterinary faculty, that is
Massey University. This university is the host for one of the world’s best
veterinary schools which ranked 19th globally for veterinary science based on
QS World Ranking 2021 by subject. The campus has several state-of-the art
facilities such as equine hospital, 24-hour pet hospital and sheep, beef, dairy
and deer farms, which are all located near Manawatu campus. The veterinary
school is managed by internationally-renowned lecturers and have a reputation
for their use of real-life case studies and they also have a low staff number to
student ratio.

13
Massey’s Master of Veterinary Studies (Without Major) can be built based on
a student’s particular and personal academic needs. In the 1st semester, I am
planning to take the advanced course in the principles of dairy and beef cattle
management (total 30 credits) as well as the animal health management (30
credits). The 2nd semester, I will take a course in theriogenology (60 credits),
which focuses on cattle reproduction. This course studies the physiology
and pathology of male and female reproductive systems of animals and the
 clinical practice of veterinary obstetrics, gynecology, and andrology. In the
last semester I will undertake a research report/thesis about the Comparison
analysis of physiological, reproduction and welfare conditions of Indonesian
and New Zealand dairy cattle which will result in published works.

My proposed master research thesis will be conducted to understand the

physiological, reproduction, and welfare condition of Indonesian and New
Zealand dairy cattle, analyze the association of dairy cattle physiological,
reproduction and the welfare condition in Indonesia and New Zealand and give
suggestions for Indonesia from the result of the analysis. This research will be
conducted in Indonesia and New Zealand in my last semester of master study. I
hope this research can be a reference to make a better design for Indonesia’s
future cattle farming using New Zealand as a role model.

To sum up, I wish to learn the advanced veterinary technology and practice
in New Zealand and become one of the “seeds” who will give solutions to
Indonesia’s problem as well as giving a professional contribution in the
agriculture sector. Therefore, I intend to absorb the important knowledge
and skills about the cattle health management in New Zealand through
master’s degree in Veterinary Studies at Massey University, then come back to
Indonesia, and become a lecturer who is responsible to share and implement
my knowledge and skills through education, training, research and social
service as part of “Tri Dharma of Higher Education”.

14

GKS
(Global Korean Scholarship)

Personal Statement

The process of coming up with new ideas gives me an inexplicably satisfying

feeling because it is like I can find another hidden aspect of myself. I
remembered when I had to plan out the topic, themes as well as activities for a
Sports Day in my school. We rubbed our heads and ears because we were so
inexperienced at the time and we did not know how where to start. Initially, we
decided to think up the activities first for the events so that we could devise an
appropriate topic and theme following the activities, but we ended up reaching
no agreement. We decided that we would like to do another way around:
working on the topic and theme first. All of a sudden, I thought about one of
my favorite books “the giver” and an idea was produced. “The Giver” told the
story of a future world where the feelings and colors were eliminated, everyone
was assigned a suitable job and even a compatible family. The giver was the
one who hold the collective memories of the old colorful world where people
could fully possess every emotion. With a little change to fit our context, I made
the connection of the future world mentioned in the book with the fixed life
routine that people got stuck in and became mindless of their physical and
mental health. With the hope of bringing some dynamism and enjoyment
to the participants, our Sports Festival would act as “the giver”. Everyone’s
face was brightened, they took the ideas instantly and somehow the idea
has become the map that led my team in the right way as everyone started
to know what types of activities should be integrated into our festivals.
Although it was not even counted as an achievement, a sense of
excitement mounted in my heart - I love to do this thing.

Compared to the ideas that were rejected, the recognized and executed ones
are inconsiderable. There were so many times that my ideas were put on
the table for discussion, and a moment later every just pushed it aside and
replaced it with another one. To be honest, I was quite uncomfortable with the
refusal, and at some point, I thought that “Well, maybe I was not good at
producing ideas and I should quit soon.” But I realize that the unpleasant
feeling could not stop my mind from wandering and dreaming. There is some
kind of both pleasure and surprise derived from the process of
brainstorming that I just feel like discovering myself again.

15

There are other reasons for me to become a screenplay writer besides idea
developing. I love writing, or in another word, the art of word-arranging. The
beauty of writing lies in the way words just simply combine together but they
can make a picture gradually pop up in the readers’ mind like someone has
painted it in their heads. Moreover, it feels like all of my worries and difficulties
just disappear when I can finally put my feelings and emotions into words.
However, I am not confident with my writing skills and I knew that I have
a lot of deficiencies in writing that I need to improve on. I used to hand my
piece of writing to one of the literature teachers in my high school and she
remarks that my writing was up and down. It is my philosophy that even when
the practice cannot make us the best, we are still moving forward thanks to it.
Therefore, I hope that I can study Film, Television and Multimedia major
 since its courses require me to learn intensively about writing with regular
practice so I could improve on it.

Korean people have really succeeded with their filmmaking industry and
the recent Oscar-winner “Parasite” has been the convincing proof of that
gigantic leap that the Korean filmmaking industry has taken. Although
Indonesia is a developing country, the film industry has not created any clear
hallmark. Indonesian people have not paid much attention to the domestic
film industry, and few people really consider choosing film-related majors
because the future of the film industry is not so bright in Indonesia. A dearth
of good original scripts is one of the biggest hindrances that Indonesia has to
manage to get through in order to produce successful movies. With the hope
that I can still continue working in the field that I am interested in, combined
with the desire to develop my country’s film industry, I really want to be a
screenplay writer and become a part of the team that produces high-quality
films for my Indonesians. Korea is the ideal destination for me to learn and
develop my skills throughout 4-year university because of the resemblances
in the cultural and social background between the two countries as well
as the secret to gain remarkable achievements in the film industry of
Korea.

Moreover, I took a serious attitude with my studying and I always find

chances to improve myself in the field that I am not so good at. When I first
entered high school, I did not care about my study much because I had
just finished my high school entrance exam and thought to myself that I

16

had a great amount of time to do whatever I wanted. Until the end of grade 11, when I received my study report
did I start to notice that everyone was making progress and preparing for their future whereas I was
standing at the same place throughout the two years. What was even worse was that I had a significant gap
in my Math knowledge, one of the subjects that were compulsory in the national entrance exams. The fear
and anxiety rapidly filled my heart and one question span around in my head was: “ How could I finish the
three-year-worth knowledge in just one year?”. However, when I started to calm down and think more
carefully, my chances to fill the gap had not fully been compromised. I devised a detailed self-study plan to
keep myself clear about what I needed to do in order to achieve my goal. Unluckily, COVID-19 happened and
quarantine was something compulsory in Indonesia at the time. Staying inside the home all the time meant
that I could not search for direct help from my teachers and peers so I decided to study on my own first by
buying an online course that covered all the knowledge that I had to study. At the same time, I read all the
books that I bought and did as many exercises as possible, noting down everything that I did not understand
and searching the explanation on books in books and the internet before coming to the resort of asking
someone else. I became more interested in Math because it trained my logical thinking and helped me
practiced my self-studying skills. I have achieved a 9.4 out of 10 in my Math final grade, much higher than
my grade in grades 10th and 11th. Throughout this experience, there were some lessons that I had gained that
had changed my life completely. Firstly, everything that I learn today will be useful in the future, even it is not
obvious now. When I had to take the Micro and Macroeconomics at my university, I could understand the
subjects and calculated everything more easily thanks to my Math knowledge. That is why I paid great
attention to any classes that I attend, mostly because I can use them in the future, and partly because it will
save my time and effort when I have to revise the knowledge.

Study Plan

English has been my main language for the last six years since I first pursued my bachelor’s degree, which was
fully-taught in English. I have no problem dealing with various academic texts in my field and hence I am certain
that

17

I do not have anything to worry about with English. Besides that, I

received an overall score of 8.0 in my IELTS, indicating that I am currently
at the C1 Advanced and on my way to the C2 Proficient level. As I pursue
my degree, I will be exposed to many articles and books in my field, which
will further sharpen my English skills and finally get me into the C2
Proficient level.

For Korean, I am now taking small online courses on TOPIK related Korea,
from the basic. I already learned basic hangul, but I do need to polish it and
memorize the hangul. But before I come to Korea, I at least already had the
basic on what is Korean and hangul, and what kind of statement we usually
use in daily conversation (such as asking for direction, asking about a
 price, etc.) And after I come to Korea, I will take the language program
that is offered by Global Korea Scholarship, and learn Korean and the
culture for a whole month, and hopefully I can reach the TOPIK level of 3
or 4 so I can follow the classes better, as this major will use 100% Korean.

When the pandemic hits, I, and many other Indonesians, experienced

severe loneliness and somehow lost our purpose in life due to isolation.
Many of us then turned to consuming various contents which are available
on line – and Korean contents such as Webtoon and Korean Variety Shows
started having bigger market share in the country. The more time I spent
consuming such contents, the more I realized that I want to contribute to
the society through providing them with entertaining contents which can
help accompany them in their busy life. However, I realized that I need to
deepen my knowledge in Korean language, literature, and culture. That is
why I want to pursue a master’s degree at the Department of Reading &
Writing at Yeungnam University.

There are several subjects which caught my interest in the department,

i.e., Logical Thinking and Critical Writing, Psychology of Writing, Practical
Writing, and Studies of Storytelling. I believe that by taking those courses, I
will be able to help Indonesian people by producing high quality translations
for Korean contents which will be tailored to Indonesian audiences – taking
the differences of linguistic features and culture into account. I aim to make
Korean contents even more relatable to Indonesians and hence can even
be more entertaining.

I plan to be supervised by Prof. Noh Sangrae, a Yeungnam expert of Modern

Korean Novels for my master’s thesis. I will do a comparative research
between

18

modern Korean and Indonesian novels. The research will provide me with some ideas on how can I localize
Korean contents to Indonesian market and what are the aspects which I need to pay attention to.

Six months following my graduation, I envision to work in South Korea as Korean-Indonesian translator for
Korean content creators on YouTube. In a year, I plan to join Webtoon Korea as a full-time member of the
localization translator team to get working experience translating web-novels and webtoons and help
Korean publications to reach broader audience in Indonesia. Although English language is vastly used
internationally, the majority of Indonesia population are not adept in English. Therefore, translating Korean
publications and other contents to Bahasa Indonesia will help more Indonesian, especially the older generation
to enjoy Korean culture.

After I gain enough experience in translating contents, I intent to keep working in South Korea for another five
years. As more Indonesian companies started using South Korean’s talents as its brand ambassador, the needs of
Korean Indonesian translator in South Korea surged. Working in South Korea will enable me to get more job
opportunities to grow my networking by helping Korean companies that plan to venture to Indonesia and
vice versa, on top of maintaining my Korean language skill. Consequently, more opportunities for cultural trade
and investment will open and thus, bring economic and social benefits to both countries. To support this,
my degree in Reading and Writing is needed to provide high quality localized translation without
compromising the original style or content on Webtoon, YouTube and other platforms. On top of economic
gain, it will also be beneficial for people to have more entertainment contents that can be safely accessed
during the pandemic. A lot of people feel stressed from fear of the virus outbreak, and it heavily affect every
aspect of our lives and alter the way we live, work and travel. Written contents such as novel and comic can
be easily published with minimum face-to-face interaction and can also be developed into other types of
content like animation or series that contribute to better mental and physical health of the society. The
knowledge I gain from my master’s degree will be useful to increase awareness of Korean contents in Indonesia
that will lead to strengthen economic cooperation and other areas between Indonesia and South Korea.

19

YSEALI (Young Southeast Asian

Leaders Initiative) Scholarship

Being shouted at as an idiot who does not deserve good education by one
of my friends in a crowd helped me find my true calling – that I will let no
other people experience the feeling of unworthiness, especially, being told
that they are not smart enough. Destiny then brought me to teaching
English to more than 1000 Indonesian students and professionals from all
around the country. It was nice to see my students regained confidence after
they successfully master the language and to know that it helped them in
performing better at their school and workplace.

Joining Kobi Education, an ed-tech start-up, has allowed me to expand my

 contribution. Since joining the company, I have helped establishing and
maintaining a community of almost 4000 people where I would conduct
four free sharing sessions every week on the topic of language learning,
motivation, and study abroad. The impact can be seen through the fact
that there are many members of the community, including those who live
in remote areas of Indonesia, who are pursuing their education in Indonesia
and abroad fully sponsored by various scholarships. In the future, we aim
to expand our role towards the ones who are still at school to help them
identify their potentials at an early age.

However, after discussions with more experienced people, we will need to

engage with various communities in order to formulate such service. I will
bring the knowledge gained from YSEALI to my workplace to help achieve
our aim.

20

LPDP (Lembaga Pengelola Dana

Pendidikan) Scholarship

“When some people have to run a 100-metre race with sandbags on their
legs, the fact that no one is allowed to have a head start does not make the
race fair.” – Dr. Ha-Joon Chang, Professor of Development Economics at the
University of Cambridge.

Having studied at universities abroad, being awarded some scholarships to

study overseas by the age of 23 and living amongst international communities
for years have led me to realising that I have built my privileges despite not
originating from a well-off family. Having gone through a tale of two cities,
Depok and Bolaang Mongondow, made me realised how lucky I am simply
because I was born near the capital.
 During my time in Bolaang Mongondow, I was saddened to discover that
Bolaang Mongondow, and other less developed places, faces a serious
challenge in education regarding the lack of competence among the students
and the teachers; Less opportunity provided to engage on subjects or interest
students might have.

However, I believe that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
That is why, to solve the problem, I initiated a movement to teach more than a
thousand Indonesians online and offline for the past five years, and I routinely
impart my knowledge and experiences to various communities of about three
thousand people. As the Chief Operating & Product Officer, I want to ensure
that educators have the right mindset to encourage students to find their
true calling, and therefore the quality of education would be continuously
improved. During my tenure, I have helped many Indonesians from various
locations in Indonesia, particularly the underprivileged ones, reach their dream
of studying abroad by helping them to prepare for their standardized exams
and matching them with the right opportunities that they deserve. Upon
finishing their study, they will contribute towards furthering the country’s
development using their expertise.

In Indonesia, there is a hierarchical system which makes it hard the junior

employee hardly to be a leader in general. However, In the first three months in
Kobi, I successfully managed nine people who are much older and more

21
experienced than me and leading them for product research and development in a tight deadline.

In leading my team, I abolished any kind of hierarchy between us. Thus, each team member has the
willingness to voice out their opinion and its justification. Of course, in the practice, I took the lead as a moderator
so that our discussion could flow smoothly. It was the very same approach I used when my team and I had
to do product research and development under a tight deadline. In addition, I also applied several
strategies so that my team would be able to meet the expectation, inter alia, setting attainable targets for
each week, making sure that everybody knows and understands their role, and being someone they can
turn to should there be any problem.

I started the first meeting for product research and development by briefing my team about our ultimate
goal and the targets needed to be achieved in the two months. After that, I proposed a list of targets which
would need to be attained every single week and their timeline. Each of us then had the chance to pick
whichever targets we felt we could handle and updated the team on our progress during the weekly
meetings. When everybody has chosen their to-do-list for the week, I asked each of them to explain to
everybody what they understand from the tasks and clarify it if there is some misunderstanding. Despite the
seemingly smooth planning and execution of the research and development, it was not the case at all.
Everyone faced several issues, and I was not an exception. It was really difficult for me to execute it as I was
inexperienced. However, I proved to be able to excel my job while solving the problems faced by my own team
members. As a result, we finally managed to launch a new product which is forecasted to triple the net
profit of the division while also helping more Indonesian youths to access quality education.

Last but not least, I had to guide my team when we undergo some operational changes. I took the lead in
explaining and demonstrating to them how the new system works and how it can make our works more
efficient. By the end of the month, my team and I have succeeded in doubling the nett profit for our
division compared to before we underwent some operational changes.

Prior to my graduation, I was contacted by an emerging think tank in Indonesia 22

to participate in their project. As someone who could see the world from two
different perspectives, mainstream and Islamic, my task was to design a project
of educating the residents of Tasikmalaya Regency in Indonesia about
water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in cooperation with local
governments and the regional office of Majelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian
Council of Islamic Scholars). My contribution was mainly to design the
training curriculum and its delivery – especially on the Islamic perspectives of
WASH. As the outcome, we did a proposal pitch to the Indonesian
representative of SNV Netherlands Development Organisation as the
project’s funder and are currently waiting for their approval.

In addition to that, I was selected to be one of Indonesia’s representatives for

a youth exchange programme to Japan. During my time there, I was sent to
volunteer at a marginalized community in the country which consists of the
elderly and the disabled. Seeing that, I suddenly realised that taking care of
those who are marginalized from the society is really important. Based on
my professional experiences, I opt to contribute through working for more
equitable education in the country so that everyone will have the access to
quality education regardless of where they live.

In the future, Indonesia will fully apply the concept of Merdeka Belajar
(independent learning) which allows each school to formulate its own ways
to attain knowledge, this will be the right time to improve education in the
rural area, including Bolaang Mongondow, so that the students will have a
unique point to help them be on par with those educated in the city. That is
why I am interested in the MPhil in Development Studies programme at the
University of Cambridge, especially with one of the papers offered named
Human Development and Education coordinated by Dr Tadashi Hirai, an
expert in human-centred development approach. I am confident that it will
equip me with the skills and knowledge for my future career aspiration to
close the gap in Indonesian education through my role as a Chief Product
Officer at an Ed-Tech start-up. The collegiate nature of studying at Cambridge
will also help to prepare me to be the better version of myself as I will have
to interact with people from different academic backgrounds, nationality,
and professional careers.
 23
I plan to use the knowledge attained at Cambridge, especially the human
centered development approach, to further expand the role of Kobi Education
for the nation. I, with my team, will formulate products which are much needed
under the policy frame of merdeka belajar (independent learning) by the
Ministry of Education. Thanks to the human-centered development approach I
will learn at Cambridge, I will be able to guide my team in the formulation
process so that we place humans at the very center of our products – hoping
that it will contribute greatly to the development of the nation.

Having graduated as one of the Top 5% students of International Relations

Department of Universitas Nasional and having got a full scholarship for
summer school in International Development Studies at the University of Oslo
have provided me with the understanding of human-centred development
approach to guide me in formulating various services for the betterment of
Indonesian society. Moreover, it helped me realize that I can be who I am
today because of my teachers, and hence I am eager to improve the quality
of teachers, particularly in less developed areas.

My short-term contribution will start during pursuing the programme. I will

cooperate with my networks in the small municipality of Bone Bolango to
design and execute training programmes suitable for the teachers who are
left behind to reduce the gap between them and those in the city. As a
madrasa graduate myself, I would like to focus on teachers of madrasas in the
municipality. I have communicated my plan with the coordinator of
Merdeka Belajar (Independent Learning) policy implementation in the
province, and she has agreed to be involved with the project and involve her
networks in it. The expected outcome will be the increasing competence
amongst madrasa teachers, particularly in Bolaang Mongondow. I envision
myself doing this project for my master’s thesis.

In the long term, I hope to apply my research to a larger extent, preferably

on a national scale, to benefit more students. Therefore, my acceptance to
the programme with a full scholarship will be equal to helping so many
teachers and students in Indonesia, particularly the ones living in
underprivileged areas. opt to specialise in their interests.

24

Monbukagakusho/MEXT
Scholarship

“We are not all in the same boat. We are in the same storm. Some have yachts,
some have canoes, while some others are drowning” is a quote I can strongly
relate to since I have spent my life living in the city of Depok and the rural
area of Bolaang Mongondow. After my encounter with many local residents,
teachers, and people under local government organisations there, I found
serious challenges in regard to the economy and education – making the
people not being able to explore their potential to the fullest. The sad truth
is that it is only an example of the unequal development between the
centre and peripheries.

As Indonesia will celebrate its 100th anniversary as a country in 2045, many

experts have warned that it will be a deciding point whether we will be a
“winning” or a “losing” country in international stages. I personally am
uncertain that we will be a “winning” country looking at the status quo of our
development. Hence, in order to contribute to our country’s development, I
initiated a movement to teach more than a thousand Indonesians for the past
five years through various means online and offline, and I routinely impart my
knowledge and experiences to various communities of about three thousand
people. To extend my contribution, I joined an online education technology start
up, Kobi Education, with the aim to provide affordable and quality education for
everyone, particularly the young generation, regardless of where they live. As
the Chief Operating & Product Officer, I want to ensure that educators should
have the right mindset to encourage students finding their true calling and
therefore the quality of education would be continuously improved.

However, I feel that my contribution is not enough. The COVID-19 pandemic

has made it imperative for the government to involve more young people with
fresh perspectives in policy making process. That is why I would like to join
the Ministry of National Development Planning so that I can bring my own
experience and highlight this issue for it to be solved despite the fact that they
need someone with some quantitative background. It then motivates me to
further my study at IUJ after some consultations with my two lecturers at my
previous university who graduated from the university. They believe that IUJ
is going to be a perfect fit for me in regard to my future career aspirations.

25
I am particularly interested with all the compulsory subjects of the
programme and looking forward to taking elective courses in Analysis of
Development Policy and Programs, Inequality and Poverty: Measurement
and Applications, and Japan’s Education System. I am sure that they will hone
my skills in the field and prepare me to be an excellent candidate to work
in the ministry. As for the research, I am going to write a thesis on the
implementation of Islamic economics and finance in lessening the gap
between the centre and the peripheries. It will be of utmost importance
 because the current long
term national policy is to be the centre for Islamic economics and finance.
Thus, contributing towards the field is something much needed.

I choose to do a master’s degree at IUJ because I need someone who is

an expert in development policy to guide me along my way of doing
research in the field – something which IUJ is renowned for – as currently
the field of Islamic economic and finance puts too much emphasize on the
implementation in financial institutions. Upon finishing my study at IUJ, I
will prepare myself to join the ministry to star an even bigger contribution
for Indonesia.

26