Ary Hermawan – Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, popularly known as Haji Isam, a young businessman from South Kalimantan, has become the new poster boy for Indonesia's oligarchy.
If oligarchy is defined as a system of power that enables the concentration of wealth and its collective defense in the hands of a small number of people, and if an oligarch is defined as someone endowed with massive financial and political powers, then Haji Isam – by any definition – is an exemplary example of an oligarch.
At 48, Haji Isam is one of the youngest oligarchs to help prop up the Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and the Prabowo Subianto administrations. Even though Haji Isam does not hold public office (unlike other young and powerful oligarchs such as Erick Thohir, Rosan Roeslani, Pandu Sjahrir and Sandiaga Uno), his clout with the current national leadership is just hard to ignore.
For years, Haji Isam has worked behind the scenes to influence party politics in Kalimantan, and his relatives and affiliates have led local chapters of the Golkar Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN). Now, he is reportedly vying to win the leadership of the United Development Party (PPP) through his cousin, Amran Sulaiman, agriculture minister in both Jokowi's and Prabowo's cabinets.
This small but influential Islamic party, which failed to pass the electoral threshold to join the DPR (the House of Representatives) in the last legislative election, will hold a national congress to elect its new leader in August or September this year. Many believe that if Amran wins the post, Haji Isam will further expand his political power in the national political arena.
The businessman has strongly denied the allegations, saying that he had nothing to do with Amran's political activities. His denial, however, has failed to quash the rumor.
So, who is Haji Isam? And how did he get to where he is now?
From rags to riches
Isam's rags-to-riches story has been widely reported in the Indonesian media. For some people, his life journey is anything but inspiring. Long before he was called "Crazy Rich from Batu Licin", the name of the region where he built his residential "castle", Haji Isam had reportedly worked as an ojek driver, a profession held by millions of precarious workers in Indonesia's huge informal economy.
His fortune changed when he met Johan Maulana, a renowned coal tycoon in South Kalimantan, in 2001 and decided to work with him. Johan then became his mentor helping him find his way through the nitty gritty of the coal mining industry. It took only two years for then 26-year-old Haji Isam to establish his own mining contractor company, CV Johnlin Baratama. The company grew rapidly, currently producing about 400,000 tons of coal and generating Rp 40 billion (US$2.4 million) in revenue per month.
Haji Isam has now surpassed his mentor in terms of both wealth and popularity. PT Jhonlin is currently a conglomerate managing 60 companies that operate in sectors ranging from mining, agriculture, and manufacture to infrastructure. His companies include PT Jhonlin Agromandiri, PT Jhonlin Air Transport, PT Jhonlin Marine and Shipping, PT Jhonlin Batu Mandiri and PT Jhonlin Agro Raya.
It is unclear how much Haji Isam is worth now. Speculation abounds that his personal assets are worth Rp 10 trillion, with one media outlet suggesting he paid zakat (an Islamic religious tithe of about 2.5 percent of wealth) of Rp 250 billion this year.
But Haji Isam, is not famous just for being rich. He is also in the spotlight because of his influence in both the Jokowi and Prabowo administrations. This is true even though he is neither a political party leader nor a public official, unlike older oligarchs like media mogul Surya Paloh or coal oligarch Aburizal Bakrie. This also sets him apart from the big Chinese capitalists, who traditionally try to stay far away from politics, and most non-Chinese capitalists, who, by contrast, seem to want direct access to state power.
The rise of a South Kalimantan oligarch
The rise of Haji Isam's business empire in South Kalimantan is often attributed to his strong influence within the bureaucracy and law enforcement institutions.
A recent expose by IndonesiaLeak claimed that two Haji Isam's companies, PT Multi Sarana Agro Mandiri (MSAM) and PT Jhonlin Agro Raya (JARR), disbursed Rp 33 billion to several state institutions, including the military and the police, to facilitate their business operations. It claims this happened when they were facing opposition from local residents and tough competition from other business players.
The police force is said to have received the most from Haji Isam's companies. A 2018 investigative report by Tempo magazine accused Isam of using his influence within the police to protect PT MSAM's operations. This was said to have taken place amid a dispute with coal mining company PT Sebuku Iron Lateritic Ores (SILO), a subsidiary of Sinar Mas Group, which was reportedly backed by then Indonesian Military chief General Gatot Nurmantyo.
Then South Kalimantan governor, Sahbirin Noor, who is Haji Isam's uncle, revoked PT SILO's mining license, citing environmental and public concerns about its operations. The decision, according to media reports, was made after Sahbirin had met president Jokowi, who later removed Gatot from his post.
Many South Kalimantan residents see Haji Isam as enjoying outsize influence in the local administration. Many former police generals now sit as commissioners in many of his companies.
"To me, Isam is just like a Godfather in South Kalimantan," said Denny Indrayana, a lawyer and former law and human rights deputy minister who has had legal disputes with Isam and competed against Sahbirin in the 2020 South Kalimantan gubernatorial race.
In 2019, Haji Isam decided to back Jokowi's re-election bid and briefly served as deputy treasurer for Jokowi's campaign. He was then accused of influencing the PAN political party to endorse Jokowi even though the party's central leadership then favored Prabowo.
With Prabowo now leading the nation, Haji Isam seems to be forging a closer relationship with the new president. The South Kalimantan oligarch is no ordinary member of Prabowo's inner circle. He reportedly donated more than Rp 2 trillion to Prabowo's campaign in 2024, at a time when many other tycoons were reluctant to make a donation. At least four people in Prabowo's Red and White cabinet – Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, Public Works Minister Dodi Hanggogo, and Trade inister Budi Santoso – are said to be Isam's men.
After the election, Prabowo assigned Haji Isam to develop his flagship food estate project in Merauke, Papua. In December 2024, Prabowo invited him to join his meeting with a group of Japanese investors interested in a reforestation project in Indonesia. These events are testament to his stature in Prabowo's government.
Hegemony of Indonesia's oligarchic capitalism
The high cost of politics in Indonesia has often been cited as the primary factor why politicians turn to businessmen like Haji Isam for financial favors, sustaining the entrenched culture of patronage in the country.
But the rise of Haji Isam is also a reflection of the hegemony of oligarchic capitalism in Indonesia. It is the result of the specific historical experience of capitalist development in the country in which a small number of domestic capitalists are largely dependent on the appropriation of state powers for capital accumulation. The result is the blurring of private and public powers that creates and maintains an oligarchic system.
Haji Isam seems to be the latest product of that entrenched political-economic system.