Fri, Nov 28, 2014

The laws around money laundering are the focus of a PhD being carried out by international student Diana Putong.

She is the first person to take up the Indonesian Government's DIKTI scholarship, following an agreement signed by the University of Waikato and the Directorate General of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture (DIKTI). The scholarship allows up to five Indonesian postgraduate and three doctoral students to study at the University of Waikato each year and covers flights, tuition, living costs and insurance.

Diana is enrolled at Airlangga University in Surabaya, but is spending three and a half months at the University of Waikato's Te Piringa Faculty of Law to research aspects of New Zealand law and money laundering.

'Money laundering is a real problem in Indonesia and around the world in general,' Diana says. 'I'm looking at the legal responsibilities of money gatekeepers, such as bankers, lawyers, accountants and notaries, and how they function within the law to either prevent or assist money laundering.'

She hopes her research will assist in the development of new laws to prevent money laundering in Indonesia.

Diana's Waikato supervisors are international criminal law specialist Professor Neil Boister and Faculty Dean Professor Brad Morse. 'They are keeping me on my toes. I have to meet with Professor Boister once a week to discuss my research, and I also report regularly to my supervisor at Airlangga.'

Diana had offers of a place at three universities, one in the USA, Leiden University in the Netherlands and Waikato. 'I chose Waikato after meeting Professor Morse in Indonesia and he convinced me to come to Hamilton. Before that, I knew nothing about New Zealand.'

It was a shock to find the place so quiet after the hustle and bustle of Surabaya and other Indonesian cities, 'but I've become used to the lack of people now and I've been telling students back in Indonesia that they should come here'.

Diana's stay in New Zealand is coming to an end and she will be home for Christmas. While Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, Diana and her family are Christian. She says the international Christian group at Waikato University helped her to settle quickly, and she also established links with the Indonesian student group (PKPI Waikato) on campus which helped her to feel at home.

Diana hopes to complete her PhD next year. One requirement of her study is that she must publish aspects of her research, so she plans to write up her New Zealand research and submit it to an international journal for publication.