Emil Elestianto Dardak (born 20 May 1984) is an Indonesian politician who is the Vice Governor of

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

. Before becoming Vice Governor, he was the regent of

Trenggalek Regency Trenggalek Regency (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Kabupaten Trenggalek''; ) is a Regency (Indonesia), regency ''(kabupaten)'' in East Java, Indonesia. This regency has an area of 1,261.40 km2 and had a population of 674,411 residents a ...

from 2016 to 2019 and was a singer cum actor prior to his political career.

Early life and education

Emil Dardak was born in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

on 20 May 1984 as the eldest children of four siblings to an ethnic Javanese family hailing from Trenggalek,

province. Dardak studied at

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both b ...

and later for his undergraduate degree at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

and he eventually completed his formal education after graduating with a doctorate from

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University , commonly referred to as APU, is a private university in Beppu, Ōita, Japan. APU was established in 2000 through the collaboration of three parties from the public and private sectors: Ōita Prefecture, Beppu City, and the Ritsumeikan Trust ...

. In addition, Dardak participated in the 2018 class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, being the only Indonesian between the 40 mayors involved. In 2016, Dardak

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used now ...

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. ...

to read

program management Program management deals with overseeing a group or several projects that align with a company’s organizational strategy, goals, and mission. These Project, projects, are intended to improve an Organizational performance, organization's perfo ...

Business career

From 2001 to 2003, Emil was a

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

Officer in Jakarta, and serving as a Media Analysis Consultant at Ogilvy. By 2012, Dardak had been appointed as executive vice president of the

state-owned company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

PT Penjaminan Infrastruktur Indonesia.

Political career

Regent of Trenggalek

Dardak registered in 2015 to run in Trenggalek's regency election with the 25-year old Muhammad Nur Arifin as running mate, with the support of

PDI-P The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (, PDI-P) is a centre to centre-left secular-nationalist political party in Indonesia. Since 2014, it has been the ruling and largest party in the House of Representatives (DPR), having won 110 seats ...

Gerindra The Great Indonesia Movement Party (), better known as the Gerindra Party, is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in Indonesia. Since 2014, it has been the third-largest party in the House of Representatives (DPR), having won 86 s ...

Golkar The Party of Functional Groups (), often known by its abbreviation Golkar, is a Centre politics, centre to Centre-right politics, centre-right big tent secular nationalist political parties in Indonesia, political party in Indonesia. Founded in ...

, PAN, Demokrat, Hanura and PPP. The pair won 76 percent of the votes (282,487), winning in all of Trenggalek's subdistricts. The pair was sworn in on 17 February 2016.

Vice Governor of East Java

After being regent, Dardak attempted to diversify the economy of Trenggalek, promoting tourism and encouraging investment programs in the area - which typically sees less investors than regencies in northern Java. He later became running mate to

Khofifah Indar Parawansa Khofifah Indar Parawansa (; born 19 May 1965) is an Indonesian politician who served as the 14th governor of East Java, serving in 2019–2024 and since February 2025. She had previously been the 27th Minister of Social Affairs from 2014 to 2018. ...

in the 2018 East Java gubernatorial election, and the pair won with 10,465,218 votes (53.55%). The pair was sworn in on 13 February 2019. Dardak is a member of the Democratic Party, although he endorsed

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), often known mononymously as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician, engineer, and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic ...

in the 2019 Indonesian presidential election - against party lines.

Personal life

Dardak's father, Hermanto Dardak (1957-2019), was deputy minister of public works under

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born 9 September 1949), commonly referred to as SBY, is an Indonesian politician and retired Indonesian Army, army general who served as the sixth president of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014 and the second president of Ind ...

's presidency and in 2015 served as head of regional development in the same ministry. Emil is married to a fellow actress , who was of mixed Indo Eurasian-

Bengkulu Bengkulu (), historically known as Bencoolen, is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra. It was formed on 18 November 1968 by separating out the area of the historic Bencoolen Residency from the province of ...

descent from

Palembang Palembang (, Palembang: ''Pelémbang'', Mandarin: 巨港 (Jùgǎng), Hokkien: 舊港 (Kū-káng), Jawi: ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River in the ea ...

South Sumatra South Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the southeast of the island of Sumatra. The capital and largest city of the province is the city of Palembang. The province borders the provinces of Jambi to the north ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dardak, Emil 1984 births Javanese people 21st-century Indonesian singers Vice governors of East Java Indonesian actors Politicians from Jakarta Democratic Party (Indonesia) politicians Living people Regents of places in East Java Vice governors of Indonesian provinces Raffles Institution alumni Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University alumni University of New South Wales alumni