Alumni Profile - Sekti Widihartanto

Current role: Change Management Officer, Central Transformation Office, Indonesian Ministry of Finance

Graduation year: 2015

I joined the PhD program at RegNet as a practitioner; I had been working at the Indonesian tax office for 12 years when I started the program. I was interested in the field of ‘policy transfer’ and I undertook my research on Regulating Indonesia’s High Wealth Individual Taxpayers.

My time at RegNet had a significant role in shaping my intellectual, professional and personal maturity. I learnt a lot, not only about subjects that were closely related to my research, but also about the broader field of regulatory studies, owing to RegNet’s dynamic community of scholars from different disciplines.

The RegNet community changed my perceptions about ‘cold’ academic environments with its warm, vibrant and collegial atmosphere. My time in Canberra was also a tremendous experience for me and my family. Canberra has good coffee shops, restaurants, parks, and it is easy to get around – it really is a wonderful place to study and a wonderful place to live.

When I graduated in 2015, I returned to the Indonesian Directorate General of Taxes before joining the Central Transformation Office at the Secretariat General of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. It is a high profile unit dedicated to managing the transformation program in the ministry as part of its bureaucracy reform program. Here I have really been able to put the knowledge gained during my PhD into practice.