Jakarta  (SWA: (12/09/07) Starting from August 1st 2007, Lin Che Wei – formerly President Director of PT Danareksa works in a foundation. When he appeared in public along with Nobel laureate, M. Yunus, in an event held by the Sampoerna Foundation (SF) on August 10, he was not an ordinary participant; he is Sampoerna Foundation CEO.

Certainly, his involvement in the SF has raised a question: what makes him change his profession from a CEO in a state-owned company to a foundation CEO? "Pak Putera (Sampoerna) offered me this job just two hours after I tendered my resignation (to the Minister of State-owned Enterprises BUMN Sofyan Djalil)," said the man who was born in Bandung on  Dec 1, 1968. In his new office at the Sampoerna Strategic Square, in Jakarta, on August 29, he chatted with SWA editor, Firdanianty. Here is the excerpt of the interview:

Since when are you interested in education?
In 2005 I met Lee Kuan Yew while he was visiting Indonesia. I asked him, "Mr. Lee, what should the young generation do to resolve the problems facing this country?" According to him, when Singapore started building in 1965, there were not many intellectuals. What Lee has done is laying the foundation to produce the best persons. Now, we can see the result. This proves that education is the best investment.

What’s so interesting becoming a foundation CEO?
Many people think that foundations are on-profit organizations. According to me, foundations also expect some return. Not financial return, on the contrary, they expect social return. For that purpose, we have to focus on three things. First, we have to realize that companies have limited resources. Thus, the available funds have to be invested in the areas that promise bigger social return. Second, it should have a wide impact. Third, the most important is its sustainability.

So far, many people are doing this based on charity. In my opinion, there should be a bench mark of what we are doing and I want a assessable result. This is likewise when Lee Kuan Yew build Singapore’s human resources.

The new things you find in SF?
There are many interesting things.... Education is very sexy (burst in laughter). I love teaching, since a long time ago. I give lectures in some universities. Speaking about education, we often feel sorry to see or to hear some students have to drop out of school. However we seldom try to find the source of the problems. For SF, there are many things to be done to help overcome this problem.

What motivate you to work in SF?
It’s simple. I want to find a job that allows me to make use of my capacity to give other people and to create future leaders. By allocating our limited resources correctly, I hope we can help other who needs it.

And your main targets?
It’s obvious. I want SF become a professional philanthropy organization in education field. Our duty is creating future leaders in Indonesia. For that purpose, we try to emphasize on education quality improvement. We are focusing on improving teachers’ quality, education structures and infrastructure, as well as discipline.