Hasan Nasbi Returns to the Palace, Becomes Presidential Adviser
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 2025, was inaugurated by Prabowo as Special Presidential Adviser on Communication.
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 adviser on communication 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 Communication Agency or Bakom, the new name for the PCO, as well as the Ministry of Communication and Digital in carrying out his duties as special adviser.
The aim, Hasan said, is to strengthen government communication. “So that the messages intended for the public can be even better, reach further, and be understood by society,” he stated.
Hasan also mentioned wanting to clarify untrue news. “This may also include the government certainly needing to correct things, news, understandings, or information that is untrue about the government,” he said.
On the other hand, Hasan stated that his role does not yet include being the government spokesperson. Currently, he said, that duty is held by State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi and Head of the Communication Agency Muhammad Qodari.
Nevertheless, Hasan expressed readiness 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’ll 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 disclosed, Hasan’s resignation came after he made a statement that sparked controversy.
In mid-March, Tempo faced a series of terror incidents. The terror included 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 statement about the pig’s head terror to the Tempo office was wrong. “That was a statement that I think was careless, it was mistaken, I think he regrets it,” Prabowo said in an interview in Hambalang, Bogor Regency, West Java, on 6 April 2025.