Budi Gunawan

Nomination as Chief of Police

In early January 2015, President Joko Widodo submitted Gunawan to the House of Representatives (DPR) as the sole candidate for Chief of the Indonesian National Police. On 13 January 2015, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named him a suspect in an alleged corruption case involving suspicious transactions believed to have taken place while he was Head of the Career Development Bureau. KPK chairman Abraham Samad stated that the investigation had been underway since July 2014.

The suspect designation sparked tensions between the KPK and the National Police. Gunawan filed a pretrial motion, and in February 2015 the South Jakarta District Court, in ruling No. 04/Pid.Prap/2015/PN.Jkt.Sel, declared the designation invalid. The ruling became one of the most widely discussed pretrial decisions among legal scholars.

Following the controversy, President Joko Widodo cancelled Gunawan's installation as Chief of Police and appointed Badrodin Haiti instead. The KPK subsequently transferred the case to the Attorney General's Office and then to the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency, where it was eventually dropped for lack of sufficient evidence.

Deputy Chief of Police

Although his nomination as Chief of Police was cancelled, Gunawan had already passed the DPR's fit and proper test. He was installed as Deputy Chief of the Indonesian National Police on 22 April 2015, serving under Chief of Police Badrodin Haiti and later Tito Karnavian until 9 September 2016.

Establishment of the Deputy for Cyber Intelligence

On 21 July 2017, President Joko Widodo signed Presidential Regulation No. 73 of 2017, amending Presidential Regulation No. 90 of 2012 on the State Intelligence Agency. The regulation created a new deputyship, the Deputy for Cyber Intelligence (Deputy VI). Under Article 25A, this deputy carries out part of BIN's duties and functions in the field of cyber intelligence. The regulation was promulgated on 24 July 2017.

2019 reconciliation of Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto

Following the 2019 presidential election, which was marked by riots on 21 and 22 May 2019 and a dispute over the results at the Constitutional Court, President Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto met on 13 July 2019. The two rode the MRT from Lebak Bulus Station to Istora Mandiri Station, then continued their meeting over lunch in the Senayan area. Gunawan, then Head of BIN, accompanied them throughout.

Several officials described Gunawan as one of the intermediaries who brought the two together. Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said that Gunawan had worked out of the public eye to make the meeting happen. Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi named three people who had bridged the meeting: Pramono Anung, Gunawan, and Gerindra Party deputy chairman Edhy Prabowo. Sandiaga Uno, Prabowo's running mate in that election, also acknowledged Gunawan's role in bringing about the meeting.

A few weeks later, Gunawan was also credited with a role in the meeting between PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto.

Role in the COVID-19 response

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gunawan instructed BIN personnel to help the government break the chain of transmission. BIN conducted mass swab testing in various parts of Indonesia using mobile laboratories. In mid-2021, BIN ran simultaneous door-to-door vaccination drives in 14 provinces and targeted specific groups such as students aged 12 to 17 and pesantren students.

The door-to-door method drew positive responses from several quarters. Ardiansyah Bahar, executive director of the Health Development Study and Consultation Institute, considered it potentially effective in accelerating national vaccination coverage if implemented widely and in coordination with regional governments, while DPR member Bobby Adityo Rizaldi pointed to limited resources as its main obstacle.

Establishment of the Deputy for Apparatus Security Intelligence

On 20 July 2020, President Joko Widodo signed Presidential Regulation No. 79 of 2020, the second amendment to Presidential Regulation No. 90 of 2012. The regulation created the Deputy for Apparatus Security Intelligence (Deputy VIII), tasked with formulating policy and conducting intelligence activities and/or operations to secure the state apparatus. This raised the number of deputyships at BIN from eight to nine. Several observers considered that the new deputyship gave BIN a role in overseeing government personnel.

"Rajawali" special team controversy

In September 2020, a public controversy arose after a video circulated showing personnel armed with long-barreled weapons, called "Rajawali", performing at a ceremony marking STIN's change of statute in Sentul, Bogor, on 9 September 2020, in the presence of Gunawan and several state officials. Through its Deputy VII, Wawan Hari Purwanto, BIN explained that "Rajawali" was not a separate force or unit but a code name for the Special Intelligence Training program for BIN personnel. Military analyst Khairul Fahmi of the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS) said that BIN would need a legal basis if it wished to maintain an armed special force.

Nusantara Student Dormitory

BIN initiated the construction of the Nusantara Student Dormitory (Asrama Mahasiswa Nusantara, AMN) under Presidential Regulation No. 106 of 2021, with the aim of providing shared housing for university students of different ethnicities, languages, cultures, and religions. According to Gunawan, the program followed up on a directive from President Joko Widodo on 10 September 2019, when the President received 61 figures from Papua and West Papua at the State Palace who, among other issues, raised the problem of friction between students in the cities where they studied. Dormitories were planned for six cities: Surabaya, Makassar, Manado, Malang, Bantul, and Jakarta.

The first dormitory was built by the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing in Siwalankerto, Surabaya, beginning on 17 September 2021, and was completed on 31 May 2022. President Joko Widodo inaugurated it on 29 November 2022 and at the same time launched the construction of similar dormitories in Makassar and Manado. AMN Surabaya houses 410 students from across the country who study at UPN "Veteran" East Java, Surabaya State University, Airlangga University, and the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, and is equipped with communal spaces, a library, a language laboratory, a health clinic, a counseling room, and sports fields.

In his remarks, President Joko Widodo expressed his appreciation to BIN, which he described as a catalyst for building AMN dormitories in several cities. Gunawan expressed the hope that the dormitory would become one of the places where the nation's future leaders are formed, and explained that the residents' development program covered national awareness, national defense, entrepreneurship, leadership, sports, the arts, religion, and community service.

Development of STIN and medical intelligence

On 30 May 2022, BIN inaugurated the "Dr. (HC) Ir. Soekarno" smart campus at STIN in Sentul, Bogor. According to Gunawan, the development was part of a goal to make STIN one of Asia's leading intelligence colleges by 2035. On the same occasion, the "Wangsa Avatara" Medical Intelligence Building was also inaugurated, with former President Megawati Sukarnoputri presiding over the ceremony. According to BIN, the facility is equipped with a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory and next-generation sequencing technology, and is intended to anticipate biological threats as well as nuclear, biological, and chemical threats.

STIN also opened several new undergraduate programs, including Intelligence Agent, Intelligence Technology, Cyber Intelligence, and Intelligence Economics, as well as master's and doctoral programs in Medical Intelligence, Technology and Cyber, Economic Intelligence, Intelligence Studies, and Intelligence Strategy Analysis. The Medical Intelligence program was reportedly established in response to the experience of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Papua Youth Creative Hub

On 21 March 2023, President Joko Widodo inaugurated the Papua Youth Creative Hub (PYCH) building in Abepura District, Jayapura, which was initiated by BIN and built by the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing. Gunawan became the institution's patron. Like AMN, PYCH followed up on the President's meeting with a group of young Papuans at the State Palace in September 2019. The facility hosts activities in animal husbandry, fisheries, fashion, music, photography, and app development.

In a press statement after the inauguration, President Joko Widodo ordered that similar facilities be built in East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Aceh, tailored to the needs of young people in each province. Papua's acting governor, Muhammad Ridwan Rumasukun, described PYCH as an investment by the central government in developing young Papuan talent. Papuan youth figure Charles Toto argued that PYCH could serve as a platform for turning the local potential of young Papuans into micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) products.

Amanah Youth Creative Hub

On 15 October 2024, President Joko Widodo inaugurated the Aneuk Muda Aceh Unggul Hebat (Amanah) building in Ladong, Aceh Besar Regency, which was also initiated by BIN. According to Gunawan, Amanah has 20,256 young Acehnese members and focuses on seven priority sectors: agriculture and plantations, animal husbandry, fisheries, MSMEs, sports, the environment and education, and the creative economy. In his remarks, the President expressed appreciation for BIN's initiative and said he hoped similar creative hubs would be built in every province.

Establishment of coordination desks

On 4 November 2024, at a ministerial-level coordination meeting, the Coordinating Ministry established seven inter-ministerial and inter-agency desks to accelerate priority programs in the first 100 days of President Prabowo Subianto's administration, with an initial working period of three months. The seven desks were the Regional Elections Desk, led by the Minister of Home Affairs; the Smuggling Prevention Desk, led by the Coordinating Ministry; the Narcotics Eradication Desk and the Online Gambling Desk, both led by the Chief of Police; the Coordination Desk for Increasing State Foreign Exchange Revenue and the Desk for Corruption Prevention and Governance Improvement, both led by the Attorney General; and the Cyber Security and Data Protection Desk, led by the communication and digital ministry together with the National Cyber and Crypto Agency.

On 13 March 2025, the Coordinating Ministry established two more desks: the Coordination Desk for Forest and Land Fire Management, led by the Head of the National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure, and the Coordination Desk for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers and Human Trafficking, led by the Minister of Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers. After Gunawan left office, his successor Djamari Chaniago reviewed the enforcement desks established during his tenure.

Dismissal

On 8 September 2025, President Prabowo Subianto dismissed Gunawan as Coordinating Minister through Presidential Decree No. 86P of 2025 on the Dismissal and Appointment of Ministers and Deputy Ministers of the Red and White Cabinet for the 2024–2029 period. In the same decree, the President also dismissed Ario Bimo Nandito Ariotedjo as Minister of Youth and Sports. The ceremony was held at the State Palace; Gunawan did not attend.

The dismissal came shortly after a series of protests and riots in late August 2025, which were triggered by the issue of allowances for DPR members and escalated after online motorcycle taxi driver Affan Kurniawan was run over and killed by a Brimob tactical vehicle on 28 August 2025. Minister of State Secretary and presidential spokesperson Prasetyo Hadi denied that the dismissal was related to the riots, saying the President's decision was based on a comprehensive evaluation. He added that the President had not yet named a permanent replacement, so the post would be filled on an interim basis. Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin was appointed acting Coordinating Minister on 9 September 2025, before the post was permanently filled by Djamari Chaniago.