Qodari Officially Appointed as Head of the Government Communication Agency

Muhammad Qodari has been officially sworn in as the Head of the Indonesian Government Communication Agency (Bakom RI), replacing Angga Raka Prabowo.

The inauguration ceremony took place at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday (27/4).

Bakom RI is a newly formed agency under the leadership of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. Angga Raka was the first person to lead this agency.

Before Bakom, a similar agency was established at the end of the leadership of Indonesia’s 7th President Joko Widodo, namely the Presidential Communication Office, headed by Hasan Nasbi as the Head of the PCO.

Qodari is not new to the government circle. Previously, he served as the Head of the Presidential Staff Office (KSP). That position is now filled by Retired General Dudung Abdurachman.

Before that, he also served as Deputy Head of the KSP, assisting A. M. Putranto as the Head of the KSP.

Before entering the government circle, Qodari was known as a political observer and researcher. He founded the Indo Barometer survey institute in 2006.

Before founding Indo Barometer, Qodari served as Deputy Executive Director of the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) from July 2005 to October 2006 and as Research Director of the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) from July 2003 to June 2005.

In his involvement in the national political arena, Qodari took part in the Jokowi-Prabowo Volunteer Group (Jokpro) as an advisor.

At that time, there was widespread discussion about the three-term presidency issue for President Jokowi. This volunteer group was one of the parties supporting that concept. Qodari once floated the idea of a Jokowi-Prabowo duo in the 2024 presidential election.

“For me, it is not Jokowi’s third term. Actually, I imagined and anticipated that the 2024 election’s presidential candidates would be paired as Jokowi with Prabowo. So, precisely Jokowi-Prabowo 2024, that was my tagline. I proclaim it here, Jokowi-Prabowo 2024,” said Qodari.

Qodari explained one of the reasons for supporting a Jokowi-Prabowo pairing at that time was to avoid the potential for political polarisation in society.

He was concerned that political polarisation, as occurred in the 2014 presidential election, the 2017 Jakarta regional election, and the 2019 presidential election, would recur.