Derwin Pereira
International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Experience
Derwin Pereira straddles the worlds of journalism and consulting, where his work focuses on Southeast Asia in general and Indonesia in particular.
The CEO of Pereira International Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based political consulting company, Mr Pereira is an award-winning journalist who was bureau chief for The Straits Times in Indonesia and then the United States for more than a decade. He has interviewed key personalities worldwide, including all Indonesian presidents since the fall of Suharto. He has deep access to the political, economic and business elite in Jakarta, relationships which he has nurtured since 1995.
Known for his research and insights into the domestic and international dynamics that determine market trends and political developments, he has established the Indonesia Initiative at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The initiative provides a platform for Indonesian, American and other scholars and policy-makers to discuss Indonesia's foreign policy, security and political posture, trade and investment issues, and social development. Mr Pereira has also endowed a graduate scholarship for Indonesians at Harvard University.
He received his bachelor's degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1991 and his Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 2006.
April 12, 2013
"Indonesia's Narrow Road of Dynastic Politics"
Op-Ed, The Straits Times
By Derwin Pereira, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Oligarchs in Indonesia today have such a stranglehold over the political process that the outcome of next year's presidential race will largely be in their hands. Outsiders eyeing the top post will not get far, even if they are popular, without the approval of one of the nation's powerful families."
(DoD Photo)
March 19, 2013
"Still Trying to Win the Peace in Iraq"
Op-Ed, The Straits Times
By Derwin Pereira, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Ten years ago, this newspaper dispatched me to cover the Iraq War and its impact on the Middle East on a two-month odyssey that took me to Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar....The good news is that Iraqis are winning that peace, as they should. How well they consolidate their gains has implications for the region in the immediate future....Iraq will contribute to the process if it can show that day- to-day democracy can work in ethnically-divided societies, and that the Middle East is not fated to be a group of tribes forever in quest of a region."
February 18, 2013
"Perspectives on the Population White Paper"
Op-Ed, The Straits Times
By Derwin Pereira, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
THE thought of Singapore being inhabited by even a hypothetical 6.9 million people by 2030 has focused minds with a vengeance that is normally reserved for Toto or football match results. As in a lottery, there is a harrowing sense of winners and losers; as with football matches, visceral emotions have been brought into rough play, writes Derwin Pereira. But, he says, "some of this angst would be eased if Singaporeans were to think of demographic change as inevitable. They have only to look at what is occurring elsewhere to place in perspective the choices which they will have to make if they want their country to survive and prosper."
AP Images
January 7, 2013
"Violence Knows No Political Boundaries"
Op-Ed, The Straits Times
By Derwin Pereira, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Singaporeans, aghast at the recent slaying of schoolchildren by a gunman
in the United States and the gang-rape of a young woman in India, might
well ask whether there is any link between the atrocities and the fact
that those countries are democracies.
December 12, 2012
"Moving Beyond Race in Malaysian Electoral Politics"
Op-Ed, The Straits Times
By Derwin Pereira, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"The coming general election in Malaysia will be a watershed no matter who wins. It will demonstrate how ethnicity and economics interact today, four decades after they threatened to tear the country apart," writes Derwin Pereira for Malaysia's The Straits Times.
October 31, 2012
"Indonesia’s Resilience Faces Test of Extremism"
Op-Ed, The Straits Times
By Derwin Pereira, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Terrorism is like a giant wave that sweeps up on shore. It will fall back to sea, but not without leaving its imprint on the sand or the soil of the shore. The imprint of extremism on Indonesia’s religious shoreline is cause for worry," writes Derwin Pereira in The Straits Times.
September 8, 2012
"External Factors Likely to Shape the Singapore Story in Years to Come"
Op-Ed, Jakarta Globe
By Derwin Pereira, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
By beginning his National Day Rally speech with a reference to the Singapore story of having traveled from Third World to First, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong drew attention to what the next chapter could be in the coming two decades.
