Zainal Arifin completed his undergraduate studies in Law at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in 2003, then continued his Masters studies at Northwestern University, Chicago, United States, and earned a Master of Law degree in 2006. Zainal also completed his doctoral program (S3) in Law at UGM in 2012. In addition, he participated in various summer school programs, including Administrative Law at UGM-Maastricht University, Netherlands, and the American Legal System at Georgetown Law School, Washington, USA.

A lecturer in Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) since 2014, Zainal has been active in various anti-corruption and legal reform efforts. He was a member of the Task Force for Drafting the Corruption Court Law in 2007 and served as Director of Advocacy at the UGM Center for Anti-Corruption Studies (PUKAT) for almost a decade. Furthermore, Zainal was appointed as a member of the Task Force for Eradicating Illegal Levies (Saber Pungli) based on the Decree of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.

In his capacity as a member of KEMITRAAN’s Friends of the Union, Zainal Arifin Mochtar plays a strategic role in supporting transparent, accountable, and integrity-based governance reforms. His academic and advocacy experience in constitutional law and anti-corruption provides a significant contribution to promoting clean and effective governance policies and practices, in line with KEMITRAAN’s mission to strengthen democratic and equitable governance in Indonesia.