Cultivating Connections

[ALUMNI-INFO TEXT="Sowing the seeds of the LKYSPP alumni network has yielded Prelia Moenandar (MPP, 2008) a fulfilling career and lifelong friendships.

As a researcher working at a Jakarta think tank in the mid-2000s, Prelia Moenandar helped to analyse Indonesian government policy. Writing those first reports planted an interest in public policy for Prelia, now 41, whose first degree was in communications from the University of Indonesia. It helped shed light on the field of study to pursue as a postgraduate degree.

After learning of her growing interest, her late boss, who was also an economics professor in Jakarta, put her in touch with his former student, a top newspaper editor in Indonesia who had studied at LKYSPP. The conversations sealed the deal for her as she decided to pursue her master’s in Singapore, instead of other universities elsewhere. Even then, LKYSPP — which was founded in 2004 — had already begun to build a reputation for educating and training the next generation of Asian policymakers and leaders."][/ALUMNI-INFO]




∧ Prelia Moenandar (in green) at LKYSPP’s orientation week in 2006 with new classmates from all over Asia.

Later, in 2009, a year after graduating from LKYSPP and while working as a public relations practitioner at an international agency in Jakarta, Prelia met an MPP alumna at an LKYSPP alumni gathering in Jakarta. That contact had been looking for talent to fill a government affairs role at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), so Prelia sent her CV. As it turned out, Prelia was the right candidate for the job. She stayed at the multinational pharmaceutical company for over 10 years, eventually becoming its head of communications and government affairs for emerging markets in Asia and moving to Singapore.


∧ At an OCBC scholarship acceptance ceremony with classmates who also received scholarships.


∧ Graduation day at LKYSPP in 2008.

“Everything started with LKYSPP,” Prelia says, who is now the head of government and industry affairs, ASEAN, at Corteva Agriscience in Singapore, a role she took on in 2019 based on the recommendation of her former bosses at GSK. “But although there was serendipity and chance involved, it has mostly been hard work and the relationships built over the years that have contributed to where I am today.

“It has always been a constant journey moving forward, not a rapid rise to success, which is never what I looked for in a career. For me, other factors are more important, such as a sense of fulfilment and the working environment, including supportive managers and co-workers and leaders to look up to. It’s not so much about the lofty title and big salary, which only go so far.”


∧ Reunited with former classmates upon moving back to Singapore after 10 years.

Yielding new growth

Indeed, when asked about her biggest accomplishment, Prelia confirms those beliefs, regarding the six months she worked for Save The Children in the US in 2014 as a highlight. Long harbouring the desire to work in an international NGO, she had the opportunity to do so when she joined GSK’s volunteering initiative, Pulse. The programme allows employees to be matched to a non-profit organisation for three to six months full time, so they can contribute their skills towards healthcare challenges and bring the change back to GSK.

At Save The Children, she worked with partners on how to contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which would be established a year later in 2015. She says, “It was an accomplishment because we were able to get all of the stakeholders in New York to contribute to the discussion.”

Today, Prelia continues her career in government affairs, doing advocacy work in Southeast Asia for Corteva and creating shared value initiatives across the region with stakeholders to address challenges faced by governments.


∧ Attending the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture & Forestry (AMAF) Meeting in Brunei during her first month with Corteva Agriscience in 2019.

One project she has worked on is with The Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Promoting Rural Incomes through Support for Markets in Agriculture (PRISMA), a development partnership between Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the National Development Planning Agency of the Government of Indonesia (Bappenas). The project helped smallholder corn farmers in Madura, an island off East Java, adopt hybrid corn seeds, which resulted in better productivity, higher yields and increased their incomes by 170 per cent.

Says Prelia, “I was in healthcare for 10 years previously and now I’ve had to pivot to a new industry, agriculture. I’ve had to learn everything from scratch, such as getting to know agriculture stakeholders. But the basics of government affairs are the same, and I have good help from external partners and consultants.”


∧ Prelia’s first visit to a rice field in Bangkok during her first week with Corteva Agriscience.

Working in the private sector to do good

Prelia says the LKYSPP experience shaped her in numerous ways. She enjoyed getting to know her course-mates, some of whom she remains close with. And while earning the degree was important, so too was growing her network. She says, “The value of LKYSPP is in the network and the friendships made. No matter how skilled and experienced we are, we wouldn’t get too far in life if we don’t have a good reputation and people to help us along the way.”



Her time at the school also had an impact in her work. She says, “My approach to analysing policies and understanding them well is due to having studied at LKYSPP. When I do advocacy (on behalf of the private sector), I can put myself in the shoes of policymakers and try to find common ground to find a shared value or solution.”

[ALUMNI-QUOTES TEXT="She also used to share a common perception among some public policy students that the private sector is “the dark side”. “The benefit of working in the private sector is that you have a lot of resources that you can easily tap into.

“To be honest, I never wanted to work for the private sector but as it’s turned out, it depends on the company, especially one that does well as a business by doing good. It can be about sharing the same personal vision and values while making money for the company at the same time, which is not a bad thing as you are adding value to the economy.”"][/ALUMNI-QUOTES]

To those who want to pursue a career in government relations, she says: “Study hard, but also build long-lasting, genuine relationships. It’s not just about what you know but whom you know. And building relationships cannot simply be transactional; it has to be genuine.”