Depok-Students of the Universitas Indonesia (UI) from the Vocational Education Program, have successfully made a proud achievement by winning Second Place in the 2025 Tax Competition organized by the Indonesian Accountants Association (IAI) of the East Java Region. The competition, which carries the theme “Preparing Indonesia’s Youth for Tax Literacy: Essential Skills for Economic Challenges in 2045”, aims to encourage tax literacy as an essential skill for the younger generation in facing future economic challenges.
The UI team consisting of Chea Universalo, Dominico Jose Mario, and Christian Anjar Purba managed to take second place after going through four stages of tight competition, namely preliminary, elimination, semifinal, and final. This competition was attended by dozens of teams from various universities in Indonesia.
In the early stages, Chea and his team had to answer conceptual taxation questions to break into the top 40. Furthermore, in the elimination stage, they managed to work on various types of questions and advanced to the top 12. In the semifinals, participants were tested through two sub-stages, namely point auctions and tax planning which required accuracy and speed in responding to taxation case studies. The four best teams finally advanced to the final round to debate on current taxation issues. Thanks to perseverance and teamwork, UI managed to outperform many other teams and achieved second place nationally.
Chea stated that all the courses he studied at UI Vocational were very relevant to the needs of the competition. In the preparation process, Chea and the team re-explored important materials such as Income Tax (PPh), Value Added Tax (PPN), and accounting, which they had studied in class. Mastery of taxation theory and accounting practices became the main capital in answering the challenges of each round.
Not only did they study independently, the team also received full support from the study program, especially from the Head of the Tax Administration Study Program, Thesa Adi Purwanto, S.Sos., M.T.I., who also accompanied them on their departure to Surabaya. For Chea and the team, participating in this competition became a place for them in the process of self-introduction “From this competition, I came to know where my shortcomings are. The challenge is not the opponent, but how we overcome our own weaknesses,” said Chea.
Chea further expressed his hope that more UI students would be motivated to join similar competitions in the future. “Hopefully in the future more friends will intend to join the competition. Make the competition a place to get to know yourself and test our abilities outside the classroom,” he added.
Director of UI Vocational Education Program, Padang Wicaksono, S.E., Ph.D, appreciated the achievements of Chea and the team. According to him, through the achievements of the three, it is clear that the curriculum provided by UI Vocational is very relevant and supports students to compete professionally. “The synergy between theory, practice, and our support is the key to success in producing superior graduates who are ready to make a real contribution to the nation. Hopefully, the students are not only satisfied with this achievement, but can continue to explore their potential and make their families and the University of Indonesia alma mater proud,” concluded Padang.
