Uly, 27, is a reporter for Femina, one of Indonesia’s largest women’s magazine. Before joining Femina, she had been a reporter in the Tempo Newsroom and had worked as a reporter at RCTI (Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia), Indonesia’s main television channel.

In 1999, Uly was a volunteer electoral observer trainer for the Indonesian general election that year and says this meant overcoming a generation of attitudes toward elections where results were never questioned. She set out to objectify the observer process by training observers to look for specific details rather than making general observations.

Uly has had a long interest in Australia since high school where she studied Australia extensively and maintained that interest through university where she gained a BA in Communications and concurrently a BA in Business Administration. During her Communications degree, she became an avid reader of Australian internet media sites.

She hopes the fellowship will enhance her interest in the differences between Australia’s free media and Indonesia’s controlled media, and help strengthen the media in Indonesia.