He began his professional career as a Research Assistant at a World Bank funded project at the University of Indonesia in 1989 and left the teaching profession in 1997 to become a Consultant to the Government of the Republic of Indonesia on Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations and Government Finance.
He has been an Economist and Advisor to various Government agencies and private sector entities in Indonesia, Brunei, Germany and the Netherlands, amongst others, and once served as Chief Economist-cum-Treasury Strategist/Executive Vice President, of PT Bank CIMB Niaga from 2016 to 2021. He is currently a Technical Advisor/Consultant with the Asian Development Bank and still lectures at Universitas Dian Nusantara, Indonesia – a small university attended mostly by students from underprivileged background. He is also currently an Independent Commissioner of Raiz Invest Indonesia, a Fintech company which originated in Australia, specialising in retail-level wealth management product distribution.
