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‘Don Dasco’: From party strategist to Prabowo’s top fixer
As President Prabowo Subianto navigates the presidency since taking office six months ago, Gerindra party executive and House Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad has emerged as a key figure in the machinery of power.
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President Prabowo Subianto (center) is accompanied by Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (left) and Gerindra party executive and House Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad (right) during the announcement of Red-and-White Cabinet members in Jakarta on Oct. 20, 2024. (YouTube channel/the Presidential Secretariat)
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s President Prabowo Subianto navigates the presidency since taking office six months ago, Gerindra party executive and House Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad has emerged as a key figure in the machinery of power — cutting deals in whispers, keeping the ruling coalition members in line and ensuring that no one gets in the President’s way.
A founding member of Gerindra and a seasoned operator, Dasco, 57, has long been regarded as one of Prabowo’s most trusted confidants and plays a critical role in preserving party unity, often mediating between internal factions and aligning Gerindra’s stance with the President’s agenda.
As House deputy speaker, Dasco has been instrumental in steering key legislative initiatives, using his influence to broker support from coalition partners for Prabowo’s early legislative priorities and neutralize potential pushback from the opposition bloc. He held the same position during the 2019-2024 period and entered the House in 2014 to represent Banten’s dapil (electoral district) 3.
“While Dasco has the political capacity to join the executive cabinet, doing so would reduce his political leverage. His placement in the House leadership, instead, is strategic,” political analyst Dedi Kurnia Syah of think-tank Indonesia Political Opinion told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
“It allows him to shepherd Prabowo’s legislative agenda and maintain the party’s influence within the House, where deals are often made,” he added.
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Coalition partners have often found themselves in regular contact with Dasco, whose influence is so dominant among lawmakers that they jokingly call him “Don Dasco” and “ketua umum DPR (the House’s chairman),” a title that overshadows even the party’s official leadership.
