I Gusti Ngurah Alit Yudha Director, Emerald Planet Indonesia
Pak Alit brings to Emerald Planet the wisdom, experience and contacts of over three decades of high level political experience. His working knowledge of the dynamic link between business and politics is the fruition of an extensive career in both public and private sectors. Pak Alit established himself as a proponent for change in Indonesia’s political system through his role in activism and reform as a respected journalist. During this time he founded one of the country’s largest youth organisations – Pemuda Panca Marga – before moving to private business as founder of a national bank.
In 1980 Pak Alit joined the leading Golkar Party and the team of the country’s second President, serving locally in the House of Representatives and then centrally in both the House of Representative and Senate in Jakarta. His extensive experience within the Central Government spanned two decades, before he returned to Bali as Head of the Golkar Party in the mid-nineties. Pak Alit’s career spanned both the rise and fall of the Suharto leadership and covered the formative years that laid the foundation for Indonesia’s democratic future.
After the fall of Suharto and the period known as Reformasi (reformation), Pak Alit maintained his position in Golkar before playing a decisive role in Golkar’s resurgence in the 2004 elections where his party once again established majority in the House of Representatives. Golkar Party Leader and personal friend, Yusuf Kalla, also went on to assume the Vice Presidency of Indonesia. After the Presidential Elections, Pak Alit stepped down from politics to pursue his goals in conservation, although remains a respected advisor on both business and political matters.
Pak Alit is the son of Indonesian National Hero, I Gusti Ngurah Rai, whose face now graces the country’s second largest banknote and is the namesake of Bali’s International Airport.
