I was having lunch with Desi Anwar, the famous Indonesian news presenter. I didn't believe it until it really happened.





Back in November 2019, World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia held a photo story competition with the issue of Kebijakan Satu Peta (One Map Policy) in Indonesia. The winner will get the opportunity to deliver their stories to Desi Anwar.


Back then, I remembered watching Desi Anwar's Face2Face Interview with the Dalai Lama. It was amazing and I am already a fan of her. Even to this day, I still watch her TV program "Insight with Desi Anwar".


I submitted my photo essay telling my experience of the field project visit the indigenous people of the Kampong Naga in Tasikmalaya. The people of Kampong Naga and other indigenous people have an important role to fight back against climate change.


Yet, indigenous people such as Kampong Naga are also haunted by the problem of overlapping land use. In various reports, many indigenous peoples have become victims of land conflicts. In short, their sacred forest could suddenly be snatched away by local governments and palm oil and mining corporations.


The cause of this problem is overlapping land permits. And one of the efforts to guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples such as the Kampong Naga is through Kebijakan Satu Peta (One Map Policy). The policy WRI endorsed is considered capable of being a solution to unravel the tangled threads of land ownership data in Indonesia.


This was what I'm telling.


Surprisingly, I won and had the opportunity to meet my idol, Desi Anwar. I'd never been this happy.

With the team from WRI Indonesia, I came to meet Desi Anwar at CNN Indonesia. We were invited to an office tour and learned how to produce a TV program in one of the largest media in Indonesia.


The day ended with lunch with Desi Anwar. During lunch, I delivered my photo story and she enthusiastically shared her journalism career since 1990. Her story inspired me so much.


Having lunch with someone who you look up to is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that is worth remembering.