Wahyu Z. Firmanto

Language Evaluation & Cultural QA for AI Safety

Works /

AI Singapore | Feb 2025 – Present Context As part of AI Singapore’s efforts to develop large language models (LLMs) that are contextually fluent, culturally grounded, and safe for multilingual deployment, I worked on a specialized team evaluating AI-generated responses in Javanese and Indonesian. The goal was to ensure naturalness, factual alignment, and cultural sensitivity—especially […]

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Indonesia’s Teacher Reform: A policy reflection on systemic challenges in education reform

Education Economics & Policy, Works /

This piece reflects on why large-scale investment in Indonesia’s teacher reform has failed to produce significant learning gains, and what systemic issues are being overlooked. As a country that stretches over the same distance as London to New York and consists of more than 17,000 islands with more than 1300 different ethnic groups, ensuring that

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What China’s Gaokao Can Teach Us About National Exams and Inequality

Blog, Education Economics & Policy, Public Policy /

A recent announcement by Indonesia’s Education Minister reignited a familiar debate: national exams are making a comeback in 2026, this time in a new format. After being abolished in 2021, the reintroduction of the Ujian Nasional (UN) is said to be part of an effort to re-establish educational standards across the country. Reading this news

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Pelajaran dari Gaokao (SNBT-nya Tiongkok) tentang Ujian Nasional dan Ketimpangan

Blog, Pendidikan /

Berita terbaru dari Menteri Pendidikan Indonesia kembali menghidupkan perdebatan lama: Ujian Nasional (UN) akan diberlakukan kembali pada tahun 2026, kali ini dengan versi baru. Setelah sempat dihapuskan pada tahun 2021, kebijakan ini disebut sebagai upaya untuk mengembalikan standar pendidikan nasional. Membaca berita ini membawa saya kembali ke masa sekolah dulu—masa-masa penuh tekanan, latihan soal tanpa

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The Generalist Trap: Why Specialization Matters for New Businesses

Blog, Branding, Business Development, Digital Marketing /

Two weeks ago, a startup founder came to me with a puzzle: their traditional marketing was working well, but their digital presence was getting zero traction. One look at their website and social media told me everything. They’d fallen into what I call the generalist trap—one of the most common pitfalls I’ve observed while advising

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Notes on Indonesia’s Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) Data 2013-2023

Blog, Labour Economics & Policy /

In the last three months, I have been working with Indonesia’s Labour Force Survey (Sakernas) data for my study assignments. It’s been a tiring process because the variable names change every few years, and some variables, such as education, income, KBJI, and KBLI, have different structures in different years. Yes, there are documents from BPS

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