Ratih Hardjono

Ratih Hardjono is a Senior Advisor with ASG’s East Asia and Pacific practice, where she provides advice and assistance to clients on strategic planning, government relations, market strategy, and public affairs.

Ms. Hardjono is the founder of Mirah Sakethi Consultancy, a strategic communications and public affairs consulting firm based in Indonesia. Previously, she worked at Indo Pacific Edelman and APCO Indonesia in public affairs roles. She also served with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Indonesia as a Program Coordinator for Information and Publications.

In 1999, Ms. Hardjono served as Presidential Secretary for Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, where she managed the presidential staff and established the first civilian Indonesian presidential office since 1965. In this role, she introduced freedom of the press to the presidential palace.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Hardjono worked for 14 years at Kompas, Indonesia’s leading daily newspaper. While working as an international correspondent for Kompas in Sydney, Ms. Hardjono specialized in reporting on countries transitioning from military rule to democracies and countries at war. She also covered national elections in the United States and Australia.

Ms. Hardjono currently serves as Secretary General of Komunitas Indonesia untuk Demokrasi (KID), an NGO promoting democratic education through grassroots outreach.

In 2002, Ms. Hardjono co-edited The Poor Speak Up, 17 Stories of Corruption, a book published by the World Bank and the Partnership for Governance Reform. Her first book, White Tribe of Asia, was published in 1993.

Ms. Hardjono was born and raised in Indonesia. She holds a B.A. with honors from the University of Sydney and graduated from Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow. She is the only Indonesian woman to have received the Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University.

She is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.