By: Ainur Rohmah
In Indonesia under President Prabowo Subianto, political power and private wealth are finding a new point of convergence. Few businessmen illustrate that shift more clearly than Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, known as Haji Isam, a former truck driver who built a multibillion-dollar business empire and is now at the center of some of the government’s biggest economic projects.
Isam helped finance Prabowo’s 2024 presidential campaign. Since then, his companies have moved into strategically important areas of the president’s agenda, from food and energy security to large-scale agricultural development. His rise has also raised questions about whether Prabowo, who has long criticized Indonesia’s entrenched oligarchs, is simply creating new oligarchs.
From Truck Driver to Power Broker
Isam, 49, began his career hauling timber in Kalimantan. With little formal education, he entered the coal business and eventually built Jhonlin Group, whose interests now include coal mining, transportation, ports, rubber, palm oil, biodiesel and sugar.
The precise value of his fortune is difficult to establish, but estimates put it at more than 100 trillion rupiah, or roughly $6 billion. Much of his wealth is tied to publicly listed companies including PT Jhonlin Agro Raya, PT Pradiksi Gunatama and PT Dana Brata Luhur. Some of those stocks have risen so sharply that the Indonesia Stock Exchange, which is prone to manipulation, has temporarily halted trading over extreme price movements.
Isam was not initially a Prabowo ally. He supported Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the 2019 presidential elections, when Jokowi defeated Prabowo for a second time. In 2024, as Jokowi nominally backed Prabowo, Isam switched sides. Tempo Magazine reported that he was among the major financial backers of the Prabowo campaign.
The relationship quickly became visible. A day after his inauguration in 2024, Prabowo traveled to Batulicin, South Kalimantan, Isam’s hometown, to thank him personally. In August 2025, the president awarded him the Bintang Mahaputera Utama, one of Indonesia’s highest state honors. Prabowo has also presented Isam to foreign investors as a leading Kalimantan businessman. In May 2025, he joined Prabowo, ministers and other businessmen at the Presidential Palace for a meeting with Bill Gates. Months earlier, Prabowo had introduced him to Japanese investors.
But Isam’s importance lies less in access to the president than in where that access leads…
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