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.