InternGram: Aprisal Malale reflects on internship with Direct Relief in Indonesia

August 5, 2019

Ford School student Aprisal Malale (MPP ’20) had a summer internship experience that allowed him to apply his skills in public policy to help his home in Sulawesi, Indonesia—an area hit by an earthquake and tsunami last September. His experience is detailed by Noah Smith in an article published by Direct Relief, the organization that hosted him as an intern.

After receiving an orientation in Santa Barbara, Calif., Aprisal was deployed to Indonesia to assist with due diligence, evaluation, analysis and communications for the Central Sulawesi’s earthquake recovery and health system reconstruction funded by Direct Relief.

As part of Aprisal’s work, he compiled an interactive map that shows the impact of the earthquake and tsunami. Other parts of his experience yielded less tangible but even more impactful results; he unearthed padding of the budget for one of the reconstruction projects and urged integrity and transparency instead.

Reflecting on this experience, Aprisal said he still sees “hope in people of central Sulawesi.”

Read more and watch a video about Aprisal’s experiences on Direct Relief’s website.

Aprisal W. Malale, is a policy analyst at The Ministry of Finance of Indonesia. He has been a government official since he was 18 years old. He specializes in fiscal policy and business process analysis, project management, and change management. He was a cum laude graduate from Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, and he currently holds Project Management Certification (CAPM) from Project Management Institute. He is also the founder of ASEAN Youth Opportunities, an internet-based platform that gives mentorship, information, and counselling for youth across ASEAN. He is now working on several fiscal policy and regulation analyses in the ministry such as Ministry of Finance Institutional Transformation Policy and Free Trade Zone Fiscal Administration Policy.