Arief Yahya (born 2 April 1961 in Banyuwangi) is the former Minister of Tourism of Indonesia between 2014 and 2019 in the Working Cabinet of President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), often known mononymously as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician, engineer, and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic ...

. Prior to becoming a minister, he had been the CEO at

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

Telkom Indonesia PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk () officially shortened into PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk, also simply known as Telkom, is an Indonesian multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

between 2012 and his appointment.

Background

Yahya was born in Banyuwangi,

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

on 2 March 1961, his father a merchant while her mother was a stay-at-home parent. At the age of 18, he was admitted to the

Bandung Institute of Technology The Bandung Institute of Technology (; , abbreviated as ITB) is a public research university located in Bandung, Indonesia. It has produced many notable leaders in science, engineering, politics, business, academia, and culture. ITB is one of th ...

to study

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. Later, he would receive a scholarship from his workplace to study at Surrey University. He continued to earn his doctorate at Padjadjaran University, graduating with a business management degree in 2014.

Career

Telkom

He started working at

in 1986. There, he gradually rose up the corporate ranks, at points becoming head of a local office, a regional division, then becoming a director of enterprise and wholesale. In 2012, he was appointed by the government as CEO, replacing Rinaldi Firmansyah.

Minister of Tourism

He was appointed minister of tourism by newly elected

in 2014. In 2015, his ministry set a target to have 20 million foreign visitors by 2019, with visits that year numbering around 9 million per year. By 2017, the number had increased to 14 million.

References

1961 births Living people Bandung Institute of Technology alumni Alumni of the University of Surrey Government ministers of Indonesia People from Banyuwangi Regency Working Cabinet (Joko Widodo) {{indonesia-bio-stub