Prabowo Names 19 National Heroes, Including His Grandfather, in Record Indonesian Honours List

19 honourees span independence struggles, banking and culture

President Prabowo Subianto awarded Indonesia's National Hero title to 19 deceased figures on November 10, 2026, including his paternal grandfather, Bank Negara Indonesia founder Margono Djojohadikusumo. The appointments cover figures associated with 12 provinces and recognise contributions ranging from armed resistance and diplomacy to banking, literature and city government.

The honours were granted under Presidential Decision No. 93.TK/2026, signed in Jakarta on Heroes' Day. Culture Minister Fadli Zon, who also chairs the Titles, Decorations and Honours Council, described the number of appointments as a record.

Margono's inclusion gives the ceremony a personal and political dimension for Prabowo. It comes a year after the president awarded the same title to Suharto, the late authoritarian ruler and father of Prabowo's former wife. Activists and nongovernmental organisations have challenged Suharto's recognition in a Jakarta court, where no judgment had been issued.

The wider list includes former police chief Hoegeng Iman Santoso, former prime minister Ali Sastroamidjojo, former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin, writer Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana and religious leaders involved in resistance to Dutch colonial rule. Together, their careers connect the struggle for independence with the work of building institutions after it.

At the Presidential Palace complex on Tuesday afternoon, Prabowo led a moment of silence before the names and provincial affiliations were read. Presidential Military Secretary Major General Wahyu Yudhayana read the decree. Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, cabinet ministers and family representatives attended.

The ceremony ended with plaques, certificates and award documents being handed to heirs. The title also carries an annual family stipend of about 50 million rupiah, approximately US$2,770, giving the recognition a financial benefit as well as a place in national remembrance.

Who received the National Hero title?

The 19 recipients represent 12 provincial affiliations. Jakarta and East Java each account for four honourees, while West Java accounts for two. Together, those three provinces represent 10 of the 19 appointments, just over half the list.

The complete list is:

• Hoegeng Iman Santoso, former national police chief, Jakarta.
• R.M. Margono Djojohadikusumo, founder of Bank Negara Indonesia and first chair of the Supreme Advisory Council, Central Java.
• Ali Sastroamidjojo, former prime minister and diplomat, East Java.
• Abdoel Moethalib Sangadji, independence activist, Maluku.
• Franciscus Xaverius Seda, widely known as Frans Seda, former cabinet minister, East Nusa Tenggara.
• Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, author and linguist, Jakarta.
• Ali Sadikin, former Jakarta governor, Jakarta.
• Sultan Muhammad Ali Abdul Jalil Muazzam Syah, known as Marhum Pekan, founder of Pekanbaru, Riau.
• Maraden Panggabean, former armed forces commander, North Sumatra.
• Soengkono, independence fighter, East Java.
• R. Suryadi Suryadarma, first chief of staff of the Indonesian Air Force, West Java.
• KH M. Yusuf Hasyim, independence fighter, East Java.
• KH Wasyid, leader of resistance to Dutch colonial rule, Banten.
• Muslim Muhammad Khalifah, known as Kiai Modjo, religious scholar and resistance commander, North Sulawesi.
• Mohamad Roem, former foreign minister and diplomat, Jakarta.
• KH Abbas Abdul Jamil, independence fighter, West Java.
• M. Jusuf, former armed forces commander, South Sulawesi.
• Sultan Ibrahim Chaliluddin, independence fighter, East Kalimantan.
• Moch. Sroedji, independence fighter, East Java.

The provincial affiliations reflect the regions associated with the awards, while several recipients lived and worked across the archipelago. Ali Sadikin, for example, was born in Sumedang, West Java, but was recognised among Jakarta's nominees. Kiai Modjo was born in Central Java and spent his final years in exile in North Sulawesi.

How nominations reached the president

Fadli described a lengthy selection process beginning with district and city research teams. Proposals moved through provincial review and then to the central government through the Ministry of Social Affairs. The honours council examined the nominations and submitted its considerations to Prabowo, who approved the appointments.

State Secretary Prasetyo also described successive stages of screening, from regional nominations to final council review. Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf said assessments involved academics, historians and ministry representatives.

Saifullah said the government had proposed more than 10 candidates to the council during the year, drawing on submissions from the public and local governments. He said Margono had met the requirements for National Hero status.

Frans Seda's nomination illustrates how a regional campaign can move into national consideration. East Nusa Tenggara's local government and residents proposed him, and his record was examined at national seminars, including discussions at Catholic universities in East Nusa Tenggara and Jakarta.

Prasetyo presented the awards as a call for later generations to continue the aspirations of their predecessors. Fadli said the recognised contributions covered armed struggle, diplomacy, politics and culture. The government's stated grounds also included leadership, democracy, human rights and advocacy for ordinary people.

Margono's recognition centres on economic institution building

Margono Djojohadikusumo, born in 1894, served on the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence, known as BPUPKI. He was listed as its 62nd member. The committee helped prepare the foundations of an independent Indonesia during the final period of Japanese occupation.

After independence in 1945, Margono became the first chair of the Supreme Advisory Council. He founded Bank Negara Indonesia, or BNI, in 1946 and served as its president. The bank was established soon after independence and was involved in issuing the country's first official currency.

A national currency gives a government a practical tool for running an independent economy: people can receive wages, pay taxes and trade using money issued under national authority. Margono's banking work therefore connects the political declaration of independence with the institutions needed to make it function.

The decree described Margono as a national hero in politics and economics and credited extraordinary contributions to the independence struggle. His record also includes involvement in the Committee of Three, the Roem-Royen negotiations and the Round Table Conference in 1949, placing him within Indonesia's diplomatic effort as well as its financial development.

Universities and local communities backed Margono's nomination

Wisnu Suhardono, chair of the Serulingmas community association, said the proposal originated with the community. He cited support from the regents of Banyumas, Cilacap, Purbalingga and Kebumen, alongside universities that helped prepare the nomination.

Those universities included UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Wijayakusuma Purwokerto, Muhammadiyah Purwokerto and Universitas Terbuka Purwokerto. Ibnu Qizam, dean of UIN Jakarta's Faculty of Economics and Business, said his faculty participated in the research team proposing the title.

Ibnu linked Margono's importance to national financial institutions and ideas about an economy serving ordinary people. Rizqon Halal Syah Aji, director of the faculty's Centre for Economic, Development and Public Policy Studies, described work to check historical data and gather supporting documents. The centre held a national seminar on Margono's role in establishing foundations for Indonesia's modern financial system.

Prabowo's family connection places that nomination alongside another politically sensitive award. Suharto, honoured in 2025 despite objections from rights groups, ruled Indonesia for more than three decades after taking power in 1967. His rule was marked by corruption allegations and repression of political dissent. The pending court challenge concerns Suharto's title.

Religious leaders connect the list to earlier resistance

Kiai Modjo's recognition reaches back to the Java War of 1825 to 1830. Born around 1792 in Mojo village, Pajang, Central Java, he became a trusted religious scholar and military commander of Prince Diponegoro.

His role combined negotiations, recruitment and armed resistance. On August 29, 1827, he took part in talks with the Dutch East Indies authorities in Klaten. He also brought religious networks into the struggle, recruiting 88 village religious leaders, 11 sheikhs, 18 religious affairs officials and 15 Quran teachers, alongside other scholars and students.

Dutch troops later captured Kiai Modjo and his followers in the Mlangi area of Sleman. He was taken to Salatiga and then exiled to Tondano, in what is now North Sulawesi, where he died on December 20, 1849.

KH Wasyid represents a later episode of resistance. He helped lead Geger Cilegon, the uprising in Banten on July 9, 1888, gathering religious scholars, Islamic boarding school students and other residents against Dutch colonial authority. Religious commitment, expressed through the idea of Perang Sabil, or struggle in the cause of faith, helped mobilise participants.

The two awards recognise movements in which religious leadership provided networks for organising communities. Their histories also explain why the list extends well before the generation that declared independence in 1945.

Seda and Sadikin left legacies in finance and Jakarta

Frans Seda, named in the decree as Franciscus Xaverius Seda, was born in Lekebai, Flores, on October 4, 1926, and died on December 31, 2009. He served as plantations minister under President Soekarno, finance minister from 1966 to 1968, and transportation and tourism minister from 1968 to 1973.

Seda held the finance portfolio during a period when inflation exceeded 600 percent, meaning prices were rising at an exceptionally fast rate and household purchasing power was under severe pressure. During his tenure, Indonesia rejoined the International Monetary Fund, the international organisation that supports monetary cooperation and lends to countries facing financial difficulties.

His work also crossed party politics and education. Seda chaired the Catholic Party from 1961 to 1968, helped establish Atma Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta, which opened on June 1, 1960, and led its first economics faculty. He later served as an economic adviser during President B.J. Habibie's administration in 1998.

Ali Sadikin's award coincides with the centenary of his birth on July 7, 1926. He served as Jakarta governor from 1966 to 1977, after a career in naval forces and maritime cabinet posts under Soekarno.

Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung credited Sadikin with establishing Taman Ismail Marzuki, Taman Impian Jaya Ancol and Ragunan Zoo, and with laying foundations for the development of Betawi arts and culture. Sadikin later chaired Indonesia's football association, PSSI, from 1977 to 1981. His recognition joins that of Jakarta nominees Hoegeng, Alisjahbana and Roem, bringing policing, culture, diplomacy and city administration into the same provincial group.

Maluku and Riau recognise organisers and city builders

Abdoel Moethalib Sangadji was born in Rohomoni on Haruku Island, Maluku, on June 3, 1889. He worked in Sarekat Islam alongside H.O.S. Tjokroaminoto and Haji Agus Salim, helped strengthen the Indonesian Islamic Union Party, or PSII, and travelled across the archipelago promoting independence.

Sangadji used journalism as well as organisation, writing for movement newspapers including Oetoesan Hindia, Sinar Hindia, Fadjar Asia and Suara Borneo. He participated in the 1928 Youth Congress, later helped spread news of independence in Kalimantan and led a Hizbullah militia based in Yogyakarta. He died after being shot at his home there on April 20, 1949.

Maluku Governor Hendrik Lewerissa welcomed the award and said Sangadji's service should inspire young people. His career links eastern Indonesia with political networks in Java and Kalimantan, showing how the independence movement depended on people carrying ideas across islands.

In Riau, Marhum Pekan's recognition concludes a campaign that began in 1988, 38 years before the award. The fifth sultan of Siak Sri Indrapura, he continued the development of Senapelan begun by his father, Sultan Abdul Jalil Alamuddin Syah, known as Marhum Bukit.

Markets and trade helped Senapelan grow into the settlement that became Pekanbaru. Marhum Pekan is also remembered for resistance to the Dutch at Pulau Guntung in Siak. Pekanbaru Mayor Agung Nugroho welcomed the recognition as the fulfilment of a goal pursued across generations, connecting the city's commercial origins with its Malay heritage.

A timeline spanning two centuries

The careers recognised in 2026 belong to several periods of Indonesian history. These dates show how resistance to colonial rule, the independence movement and later institution building fit together.

• 1825 to 1830: Kiai Modjo serves alongside Prince Diponegoro during the Java War.
• July 9, 1888: KH Wasyid helps lead the Cilegon uprising in Banten.
• 1928: Sangadji participates in the Youth Congress associated with the Youth Pledge.
• 1945: Indonesia declares independence; Margono becomes the first chair of the Supreme Advisory Council.
• 1946: Margono establishes Bank Negara Indonesia.
• 1966: Seda begins his term as finance minister and Sadikin begins his term as Jakarta governor.
• 1988: The campaign for Marhum Pekan's National Hero title begins.
• 2025: Prabowo awards National Hero status to Suharto.
• November 10, 2026: Prabowo grants the title to 19 figures under Presidential Decision No. 93.TK/2026.

The ceremony brings those different histories into a single national honours list. For families, it provides formal recognition and an annual stipend. For the provinces that supported nominations, it gives national standing to figures remembered through local institutions, resistance movements, cultural life and the growth of cities.

Key Points

• Prabowo awarded National Hero status to 19 deceased figures on November 10, 2026.
• The recipients represent 12 provinces and include military leaders, diplomats, religious scholars, a writer and economic institution builders.
• Margono Djojohadikusumo, Prabowo's paternal grandfather, founded BNI in 1946.
• Culture Minister Fadli Zon described the number of appointments as a record.
• Nominations passed through regional research, government review and the national honours council before presidential approval.
• The honour includes an annual family stipend of about 50 million rupiah.
• A court challenge to Suharto's 2025 National Hero title remains undecided.