Sri Mulyani Talks About Becoming The Minister Of Finance: Aspires To Become A Teacher Until She Goes To College With The Majority Of Men

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani told of her journey to pursue a career until she was finally trusted to be the number one person in managing state finances.

In a virtual seminar initiated by the World Bank, Sri Mulyani revealed that she never aspired to be the Minister of Finance. In fact, up to the high school (SMA) level, he still views that being an educator is the most reasonable thing.

“Since high school, I am still looking for what I want to be. I actually want to become a teacher and then major in exact sciences,” he said on Monday, March 7.

According to Sri Mulyani, the situation changed when she entered higher education. He then decided to take the path of education in the field of economics as a provision of knowledge. There is one interesting thing here.

He said, the stigma that economic learning activities were dominated by women was finally refuted. In fact, Sri Mulyani said that she was a minority because men dominated the major she took.

“If people say that most of the women majoring in economics, accounting, and management, it turns out that they are not. Moreover, I took the study of development (economics) where almost 90 students were mostly male,” he said.

This situation spurred Sri Mulyani to prove that women also have the same opportunities and abilities as men in terms of academic achievement.

Long story short, a series of educational levels have been completed to successfully obtain a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in the United States. The call of the soul is coming. Sri Mulyani decided to return to the country to give her knowledge to the community.

At that time, Indonesia was in a state of turmoil. The 1997-1998 crisis triggered by the economic sector was the cause. This is where he found the momentum to continue to grow.

“During 1997-1998 it was a place for all of us to be able to control the crisis. As a young economist who recently returned to Indonesia, I had many opportunities to carry out crisis management activities, including at that time through the University of Indonesia,” he explained.

Since then his career has continued to climb. Sri Mulyani's economic legitimacy became plenary when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed her as Minister of Finance in 2005. Having resigned from the cabinet, Sri Mulyani took an international stage.

He was later known to have served as Managing Director of the World Bank in 2010. Just so you know, Sri Mulyani is the first Asian person to occupy this important seat at the World Bank.

After that, the task of the state again called. He was entrusted by President Joko Widodo to return to lead the Ministry of Finance until now. Sri Mulyani is also considered to be a great architect of the Indonesian economy through the strategic policies contained in the APBN.