Hasan Nasbi Returns to Prabowo's Cabinet After One Year
Former head of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), Hasan Nasbi, has returned to President Prabowo Subianto’s inner circle of government. Hasan, who resigned from the PCO on 21 April 2026, has now been sworn in by Prabowo as Special Presidential Advisor on Communications.
The inauguration took place on Monday, 27 April 2026, or about one year after Hasan submitted his resignation letter from the PCO. “Today I have been assigned by the President as a special advisor on communications and media,” Hasan said after the inauguration at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.
According to Hasan, he will serve as an assistant to Prabowo. He will work with the Government Communications Agency or Bakom, the new name for the PCO, as well as the Ministry of Communications and Digital, in carrying out his duties as special advisor.
The goal, Hasan said, is to strengthen government communications. “So that the messages intended for the public can be better, reach further, and be understood by society,” he stated.
Hasan also mentioned his intention to clarify untrue news. “This includes, of course, the government will and must also straighten out matters, news, understandings, or information that is untrue about the government,” he said.
On the other hand, Hasan conveyed that his role does not yet include being the government spokesperson. Currently, he said, that duty is borne by State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi and Head of the Communications Agency Muhammad Qodari.
Nevertheless, Hasan stated he is ready if at some point he is asked by Prabowo to speak on behalf of the government. “If ordered by the President to step forward again, meet with media friends, we are also ready, insha’Allah. We will meet often,” he remarked.
Hasan Nasbi previously resigned from his position as Head of the Presidential Communications Office at the end of April last year. Although the specific reason was not revealed, Hasan’s resignation occurred after he made a statement that sparked controversy.
In mid-March, Tempo experienced a series of terror incidents. The terror consisted of packages containing a pig’s head without ears, parcels with six dead rats with severed heads, and digital crimes in the form of doxxing against Francisca Christy Rosana, a political desk journalist and one of the hosts of the Bocor Alus podcast.
In response to the terror, Hasan suggested cooking the pig’s head. “Just cook it,” he said at the Presidential Palace Complex in Central Jakarta on Friday, 21 March 2025.
The statement was based on Cica’s response on social media X, which Hasan considered a joke. He opined that if the victim herself did not feel threatened, the incident should not be exaggerated. “I saw Cica’s social media. She asked for pig meat to be sent. That means she is not threatened. She can joke. Send pig meat then,” Hasan said.
Hasan also questioned whether the sent pig’s head was truly a threat or just a joke. “Is it really like that? Or just jokes? Because they responded with jokes,” said Hasan Nasbi.
President Prabowo acknowledged that Hasan Nasbi’s remark about the pig’s head terror to Tempo’s office was wrong. “That was a statement that I think was careless, it was wrong, I think he regrets it,” Prabowo said in an interview in Hambalang, Bogor Regency, West Java, on 6 April 2025.