Dharma Pongrekun (born 12 January 1966) is an Indonesian former three-star police general, analyst, evangelist, media personality and politician who served as the Vice Head of the National Cyber and Crypto Agency from 17 July 2019 to 7 October 2021 under Hinsa Siburian. Previously, he served two offices in the Criminal Investigation Agency in 2015 and 2016. He retired from the police force in 2024. He is a declared candidate in the upcoming 2024 Jakarta gubernatorial election and is running with Kun Wardana Abyoto, and academic, as potential vice governor.[1]
Early life and career
Dharma Pongrekun was born in Palu City, Central Sulawesi Province. He attended elementary and middle school before going to Jakarta for high school. He graduated from Indonesian Police Academy, Bandung in 1988. He had a Master of Police Sciences from Indonesian Police College in 1995 and moving on to get a Master of Management at Universitas Bhayangkara Jakarta Raya, a private university affiliated with the National Police, in 2002. He studied again and earning a Master of Law at Gajah Mada University in 2006.[2][3] In 2023, Pongrekun received an honorary doctorate in humanitarian studies from MBC University, Depok.[3]
His last position in Indonesian National Police was an analyst affiliated with the Police Education and Training Institute (Lembaga Pendidikan dan Pelatihan POLRI, abbreviated as Lemdiklat Polri), Jakarta with the position of Principal Policy Analyst for Assessments and Development. He held the position from 2021 to 2024.[4]
He is also an evangelist affiliated with Bethany Indonesian Church, a Protestant church. He has been interviewed by people and has gained attention as a media personality. Some of these interviews are posted on YouTube.[5]
Being an evangelist, Pongrekun preached about the need of simple life and to some extent spreading luddite and even fear of technology. In the preaching.[7] Based on the wealth report that he required to submit for his candidacy, Pongrekun does not have a single car.[8]
^Nasution, Mario Sofia (24 February 2024). Dirgantara, Ganet (ed.). "Dharma Pongrekun minta pemerintah waspadai perjanjian pandemic treaty". antaranews.com (in Indonesian). ANTARA news. Dharma juga ingin memastikan bahwa semua kurikulum pada sistem pendidikan yang berlangsung di Jakarta ketika saya memimpin harus mengajarkan akhlak kepada para siswa dan menempatkan pendidik sebagai contoh. [Dharma also wants to make sure that all curriculums on the education system that continues in Jakarta when I lead must educate uprightness to students and assign educators as an example.]