Miranda S. Goeltom: a multi talented economist

Miranda S. Goeltom: a multi talented economist

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

When I entered Miranda Swaray Goeltom's residence for the first time one early morning last week, I was impressed by her home's interior, which blends simplicity with exquisite taste, dignity with hominess, strength with elegance -- features that epitomize the persona of Miranda S. Goeltom.

One is also struck by a picture of her parents at the entrance of the house, a subtle token of Miranda's esteem and attachment to the two persons whom she said she owes her ability to make choices in life.

"I am so thankful to my parents for letting me do all that I did as a girl, for all that made it easy for me to make choices," she said, reminiscing how she had lessons in tennis, swimming, ballet, Balinese dance, poetry reading, German, French, Dutch and Japanese.

Last but certainly not least, she also had to learn how to cook, bake cookies and other delicacies. Although her mother was quite progressive, cooking and sewing were a must for her and her sisters.

"If worse comes to worst, at least you'll be able to sell delicious spring rolls and sew your own dresses," her mother used to say. Her mother went as far as having an expert like Mevrouw Lim stay with them for five years, all for the sake of her daughters.

It is no surprise then, that Miranda not only is a connoisseur of fine dining, but she is also an excellent cook. Her expertise in the kitchen served her well when her daughter graduated in San Francisco recently and Miranda single-handedly prepared a dinner of eight courses for 40 people!

Another treat she has inherited from home is her inclination to help.

"My parents' home used to be open to whoever wanted to come. They took the time to listen to people's problems. My father used to say what the right hand gives, the left needs not know," she said.

Friends mean the world to her and she cherishes longtime friendships. She maintains them by calling her friends up during her busy schedule and gets together with them whenever possible.

"My house is open, anybody can come over, just like my parents used to do," she said. She is a wonderful friend, said her girlfriends, revealing that Miranda always makes time for her circle of friends.

She is a workaholic and keeps a 16 to 18-hour workday. She needs only a few hours of sleep a night and never suffers from jet lag. The moment she arrives back from a long trip she immediately starts an activity. "I would feel queer if I didn't," she said.

Miranda has multifarious interests. Apart from her work, which she loves and does conscientiously, she also loves to exercise and play the piano. She also dances a lot and likes entertaining. Art is something that is close to her heart. When she is not visiting museums, she is in galleries at art exhibitions.

"I learned how to appreciate art from my mother," she said.

Start buying books first, then buy artwork was the good advice she was given. The first book she bought was about Chinese ceramics, which she liked very much.

"I used to save my money and empty my whole pocket to buy what I liked," she said.

The first antique piece she purchased was a ceramic vessel from Kalimantan.

I love art that is honest, she said. She knows by the brushstrokes whether the artwork was made from the heart or just a fake.

Economics wasn't really her first choice. She even hated it when she was in senior secondary school. Physics was what she wanted to do.

I love mathematics, she said.

Everything is about movement and dynamics. "That's me!" she exclaimed. But during the 1960s to 1970s,parents used to dream of their daughters to be medical doctors. Blood and everything related to the medical profession made Miranda shudder, but she nevertheless enrolled at medical school just to please her parents, her mother in particular. After six months, however, she decided it was really not her cup of tea, and dropped out.

By chance, an article in the newspaper by senior economist Ali Wardhana struck a chord in her. It became her moment of truth. Deciding on economics, she went in for the test and succeeded with flying colors.

After all, economics is also about movement and dynamics.

She studied economics with the logic of mathematics and proceeded without much effort. She got exceedingly good marks for accounting and the science of economy, which earned her a scholarship.

Since then, I hardly had to pay any school fees, she said, and more scholarships followed suit. Miranda obtained a masters in political economy from Boston University in the U.S., and a PhD in the science of economics from the same university with her dissertation titled "Financial Liberalization, Capital Structure and Investment: An Empirical Analysis of Indonesian Panel Data, 1981-1988".

Miranda said whatever she has achieved is the result of her upbringing, education and effort to expand and her determination to push her abilities and talents beyond the limit

Once you do that, you get the nerve to do things you had never thought of before, and once you deliver, the good results lead to more opportunities, getting more responsibility while taking responsibility for what you are doing, she asserted.

She doesn't keep this wisdom to herself, but shares it with her two daughters, her house staff and the staff at the office. What is more, she also creates this environment, and helps and leads them to get there. Her daughters have the experience of the benefits, as do her staff. A tangible example was with a member of her house staff who has been with her for twenty years. She was only 17 when she came to work for Miranda, who made sure the girl could read.

Then Miranda taught her how to cook, clipped all the recipes from the weekly Femina magazine and let her also read from there. Now she is the best cook one could ever imagine.

It seems the flow of her life follows the names she was given. The name Miranda was given to her because her father saw the spirit of joy in Carmen Miranda, while Swaray is after the Svaraj Mahatma Gandhi Movement, which means independent.

Miranda Swaray Goeltom is the deputy governor of Bank Indonesia (BI), and one of the three candidates for the position of BI governor.