Internship in East Timor

My GSP program experience has been full of diverse experiences, networking and learning opportunities. Highlights include the responsibility I was given at my workplace; leading the firm East Timor expansion project; compiling an extensive (100+ rows, 10 columns) database for reliable sources in East Timor, logging all serious crimes reports within the last year & completing final prototype expansion report to present to our director at the culmination of the internship. Reporting in East Timor was difficult as there weren’t many sources.

I enjoyed liaising with my director for 30 minutes each day to refine this report and discuss major developments in region. Spending 3-4 hours each day completing sections in the Daily Risk Management report sent to clients, was invaluable for my editing, proofreading, and research skills. This allowed me to gain 10+ options of Daily Risk Assessment sources to go through to see which had the strongest information. Some of these included the Jakarta Post, Media Indonesia, CNN Indonesia, Kata Data, Tribun News, Sindon News, and Tirto.id, Tempo News. Each day after I submitted these responses, I was given immediate feedback. Often objectivity and less colloquialism were emphasised across all my work. Some topics I reported on included where the One China Policy, Indonesian support sent to Gaza & Malaysian detainees pleading guilty to the Bali bombings.

Other highlights included helping source information for political, business and security risks around China. Specifically, topics included health and disease in respiratory illness in China, international affairs related to Biden’s administration in America and the rise of technology in digital investigation centres to help stop organised crime across China. My heritage was Chinese, and I was specifically allocated these tasks as my work knew I would be interested in them. This meant collaborating with China headquarters daily to aid in research for China and Taiwan Risk reports.

H & A was great as this feedback loop was not just given by my advisor, I also touched base with my Director John Como each day for a 4-week internship for 30-60 minutes, ensuring we were on the right track, following guidelines of our internship agreement and getting advice for research.

William Chen
Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Law
International Internships
New Colombo Plan Mobility Grant recipient