Career
After completing his studies at Imam Bonjol, Hutauruk began to work as a marketing manager while also being a reporter for the magazine Kartini. He also for a time worked as a civil servant at the Ministry of Information.
Following the 1997 Indonesian legislative election, Hutauruk became a member of the House of Representatives (DPR) as a Golkar member representing North Sumatra. He would retain his DPR seat as a Golkar member following the 1999 (representing Central Tapanuli) and 2004 elections (from North Sumatra's 2nd district), and between 1999 and 2003 he was head of Golkar's parliamentary faction. He was part of DPR's Fourth Commission during his 2004–2009 term.
In 2010, Hutauruk ran in Sibolga's mayoral election with Marudut Situmorang as running mate, winning 20,493 votes (46.3%) and defeating four other candidates. His competitor Afifi Lubis launched a lawsuit over the election results to the Constitutional Court of Indonesia, which upheld the results. Hutauruk and Situmorang were sworn in on 26 August 2010. Hutauruk would be reelected in 2015 with Edipolo Sitanggang as his new deputy and 24,774 votes (55.1%), and Hutauruk was sworn in for his second term on 17 February 2016.
As mayor, Hutauruk pushed for the development of infrastructure for fishing and fish processing industries. During the COVID-19 pandemic late in his second term, Sibolga's municipal government provided stimulus funding for hospitality and restaurant industries and gave tax waivers.
After his tenure in Sibolga ended, Hutauruk was elected chairman of the Islamic Education Movement (Persatuan Tarbiyah Islamiyah/PERTI) for the 2022–2027 term. He also ran again for a seat in DPR, in his old district of North Sumatra II as a Demokrat candidate, but was not elected.
