The Chairman of the Board of Trustees (2019-2023) of Universitas Indonesia (UI) who previously served as Minister of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia (2014-2016) sat in the front row of the Strategic Studies School group at the UI graduation ceremony this afternoon. This morning (Saturday, August 24) the graduation ceremony for the Even Semester 2023/2024 was first held, led by the Rector of UI, Prof. Ari Kuncoro, S.E., M.A., Ph.D., for the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences.
Saleh Husin, born in Rote, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), proved that education knows no age and time limits. “Thank God, this afternoon as a UI student, I graduated from the Doctoral Program of the School of Strategic and Global Studies. With much struggle, thank God my study was successful,” said Dr. Saleh Husin who came with his wife and children.
He is a person who has an unusual timeline in education and career. After completing his elementary and secondary education in Ba’a Rote in 1979, and his high school education in Kupang in 1982, he migrated to Java and opened a business to support his life. When his business slowly started to succeed, he returned to fight for his education by studying at Krisnadwipayana University in Jakarta, and successfully obtained a bachelor’s degree in 1996 and a master’s degree in 2007.
Now, at the age of 60, Saleh Husin was declared to have graduated from the SKSG UI Doctoral Program at the promotion hearing held on Saturday, February 24, 2024, with a summa cum laude predicate and a Cumulative Achievement Index (IPK) of 3.96. This achievement was achieved thanks to his research titled “Hilirisasi Industri Sawit untuk Memperkuat Perekonomian Nasional dan Meningkatkan Posisi Tawar Indonesia dalam Perdagangan Dunia” (Downstreaming the Palm Oil Industry to Strengthen the National Economy and Improve Indonesia’s Bargaining Position in World Trade).
“I feel that the knowledge I gained while studying at UI will be useful for application in society. Moreover, I am also involved in the business world and previously in the cabinet. Therefore, the research in my dissertation is hopefully useful and can help the government in making a policy that is useful for the nation and state,” said Saleh.
In his dissertation, he reviewed Indonesia as the world’s largest producer and consumer of palm oil. Indonesia’s bargaining position in the international palm oil trade is still relatively weak, so downstreaming the palm oil industry is needed to strengthen the national economy, increase the value of export products, and reduce imports. With downstreaming, Indonesia can build new industries using palm oil as the main raw material, such as cosmetics, soap, chocolate, and biodiesel. He argued that downstreaming will be successful if supported by appropriate regulations and taxation of palm oil exports.
