Prabowo Inaugurates Syahganda Nainggolan as Head of Government Communication Agency, Replacing Qodari

President Prabowo Subianto has officially inaugurated Syahganda Nainggolan as the Head of the Indonesian Government Communication Agency (Bakom). Meanwhile, Fadli Hartono has been appointed as the Deputy Head of Bakom to serve alongside Syahganda Nainggolan.

The inauguration took place at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday (2/10), presided over directly by President Prabowo.

Previously, the position of Head of Bakom was held by Muhammad Qodari. Qodari has now transitioned to the role of Secretary, while also serving as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council (Wantimpres).

Syahgala Nainggolan was formerly known as an activist and was one of the leaders of the Indonesia Rescue Action Coalition (KAMI). The activist was arrested in 2020 due to tweets deemed to have caused public disorder; he and several others were accused of incitement during the Omnibus Law on Job Creation protests. The Depok District Court subsequently sentenced him to 10 months in prison. Syahganda was released from the National Police Criminal Investigation Body (Bareskrim) detention centre in August 2021.

Currently, he is active as the Chairman of the Great Institute, a research institute focusing on economics, technology, and politics. He also frequently appears in various discussion programmes across social media platforms and news media.

With today’s inauguration, he has been entrusted with the new mandate to lead Bakom RI. Bakom RI is a newly formed agency under the Prabowo administration, responsible for executing the communication of policies and strategic programmes from the central government to the regions. Previously, policy communication was not orchestrated by Bakom, but was managed by the Presidential Communication Office (PCO).