An op-ed podcast in Tempo titled “Rumah Kartu Bobby Nasution” has revealed alarming details about Bobby Nasution’s potential involvement in corruption and the unexpected silence of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) regarding this significant case (November 4, 2025). Bobby may not only be implicated in this particular corruption case but could also be linked to other scandals in Medan and North Maluku.
Despite judges requesting the KPK to bring Bobby to court regarding a bribery case related to road construction in North Sumatra, the agency has yet to summon him for further investigation. This situation highlights the KPK’s failure to operate as the independent institution it was intended to be, serving the public interest in eradicating large-scale corruption, regardless of who commits it. Instead, it appears to have become a tool for those in power to criminalize rivals and protect their inner circle. This trend has become increasingly evident throughout President Jokowi’s two terms in office.
The question arises as to why Bobby, being part of Jokowi’s family, has not been summoned by the KPK, especially now that Jokowi is no longer in office. Even though he has left the presidency, Jokowi still wields significant political influence. His son, Gibran Rakabuming, is the vice president, and the current president, Prabowo Subianto, was supported by Jokowi in the 2024 presidential election. Many individuals from Jokowi’s inner circle still hold key positions in the government. In simple terms, Bobby enjoys the backing of elites and oligarchs.
Elite-oligarch collusion
Jeffrey Winters distinguishes between elites and oligarchs. Elites are individuals who hold power in government, the military, national policy, and bureaucracy, while oligarchs are those with substantial wealth (Winters, 2011, 2014). Winters notes that the rise of oligarchs began during the Soeharto era, around the 1970s. At that time, Soeharto functioned as a sultanic oligarch, the sole protector of the wealth of the extremely wealthy. Consequently, affluent individuals were not required to engage in politics to maintain and expand their business networks.
After Soeharto’s downfall in 1998, wealthy individuals faced three options to safeguard their wealth: either join politics by creating their own parties, officially align with existing political structures, or remain informally affiliated. These circumstances fostered collusion between elites and oligarchs, necessitating cooperation to maintain power and pursue their interests.
The positive aspect for Indonesia concerning elite-oligarch collusion is that personal authoritarianism similar to Soeharto’s rule is unlikely to reemerge. However, the downside is that Indonesia may never achieve full democracy. Any elected president must be part of this elite-oligarch collusion to retain power (Mietzner, 2024, 2025).
The brief administration of Abdurrahman Wahid serves as evidence that elite-oligarch collusion can topple any president. In contrast, Megawati’s rise to the presidency was a result of her willingness to relax horizontal accountability and pursue vertical accountability, leading her to share power with elites and oligarchs, even at the expense of public interests (Slater, 2004).
Jokowi’s big coalition
During Jokowi’s presidency, he not only strengthened but also expanded the coalition of elite oligarchs, including not just wealthy individuals and elites in the military, police, and bureaucracy but also those in the private sector. He also engaged with leaders of religious organizations, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, and other high-ranking state agencies (Mietzner, 2024).
This significant collusion has not only contributed to Jokowi’s decade-long rule but also ensured a victory for the Prabowo-Gibran ticket in the 2024 presidential election (Pepinsky, 2024). Bobby’s apparent immunity from legal accountability and the KPK’s reluctance to take him to court are direct consequences of Jokowi’s ten-year political investment in elite-oligarch collusion.
Bobby is clearly protected by elites and oligarchs who have remained influential since Soeharto’s regime. This raises the question of whether Jokowi is merely continuing practices established since Soeharto’s fall, making it challenging to accuse him of specifically protecting Bobby.
This assessment holds some merit, as the aftermath of Soeharto’s fall has led to the dominance of elites and oligarchs at all levels of governance, effectively establishing the rules of the game. They determine electoral outcomes and possess the resources to control who can participate in political races, from local to national levels (Robinson & Hadiz, 2004, 2014).
However, as a president with majority support from the electorate and all necessary resources, Jokowi had the power to dismantle this elite-oligarch collusion. From a moral standpoint, it cannot be justified under any circumstances for him to employ this collusion to protect his family’s interests.
