Viktor Laiskodat
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Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat (born 17 February 1965) is an Indonesian politician who served the 8th governor of
East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara (; ) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the north, with a total land area of 47,238.07 km2. It cons ...
between 2018 and 2023, and previously as a member of the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
between 2004–2009 and 2014–2017. He was elected into the House of Representatives from his home district twice in 2004 and 2014, although he did not serve his entire second term because he resigned to run for governor.


Background

Born as the youngest child of Lazarus Laiskodat and Orpha Laiskodat Kase in Oenesu, in the western part of
Kupang Regency Kupang Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. It occupies the far western end of Timor Island (apart from the area of Kupang city, which has been administratively separated from the Regency since 11 April 1996), together ...
. He is a
Protestant Christian Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone, the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible sourc ...
(despite the province's
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
-majority demographic) and ethnically belongs to the
Helong Helong (; Chosŏn'gŭl: 화룡; Hangul: 허룽) is a county-level city in southeastern Jilin province, Northeast China. It is under the administration of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. In January 2024, several thousand North Korean mi ...
people. After completing his first 12 years of education at Kupang in 1985, he studied law 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 ...
's Indonesian Law Institute (''Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Hukum Indonesia''), completing his bachelor's degree in 2000. In 2017, he graduated from
Satya Wacana Christian University Satya Wacana Christian University (), abbreviated as UKSW, is a private university located in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. The name itself is derived from Sanskrit, meaning "Faithful to the Word / Word of God". UKSW's campuses are spread a ...
in
Salatiga Salatiga () is a Cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java province, Indonesia. It covers an area of and had a population of 192,322 at the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at m ...
, earning a master's degree in development studies.


Career

After graduating, Laiskodat worked as a lawyer and law consultant, owning his own law firm (Viktor B. Laiskodat Law Firm). He also became commissioner at several companies.


Parliament

He was first elected to the
People's Representative Council The House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (, DPR-RI or simply DPR) is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the national legislature of Indonesia. It is considered the lower house, while th ...
as a member of
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 ...
in 2004 from the NTT II electoral district, which included
Sumba Sumba (; ), natively also spelt as Humba, Hubba, Suba, or Zuba (in Sumba languages) is an Indonesian island (part of the Lesser Sunda Archipelago group) located in the Eastern Indonesia and administratively part of the East Nusa Tenggara pro ...
,
Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...
, and surrounding islands. In 2009, he did not gain a seat. However, in 2014, he ran as a member of
Nasdem Party The NasDem Party () or the National Democratic Party () is a political party in Indonesia. It is partly funded by media baron Surya Paloh who founded the similarly named organization, National Democrats (). Despite this, and logo similarity, Nasi ...
and won a seat after securing 77,555 votes - third place out of a quota of seven. In his second term at the council, he was part of
Commission I First Commission of the House of Representatives, more commonly known as First Commission, is one of eleven commissions for the 2019–2024 period, within the People's Representative Council of Indonesia. The commission has the scope of tasks in th ...
and also was the speaker of Nasdem's faction in the parliament. During the 2014 presidential election, he was part of
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 ...
's campaign team. In 2017,
President of Indonesia The president of the Republic of Indonesia () is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president is the leader of the executive branch of the Indonesian government and the commander-in-chief of the ...
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 ...
released an executive order (''Peraturan Pemerintah Pengganti Undang-Undang'') allowing the government to disband mass organizations deemed opposing the state's ideology, with opposition parties and several rights organizations condemning the move. Laiskodat defended the law and accused four then-opposition parties;
Great Indonesia Movement Party 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 ...
, Democratic Party,
National Mandate Party The National Mandate Party (), frequently abbreviated to PAN, is a non-sectarian, religion-basedAl-Hamdi, Ridho (2017). ''Moving towards a Normalised Path: Political Islam in Contemporary Indonesia''. Jurnal Studi Pemerintahan (Journal of Governme ...
, and
Prosperous Justice Party The Prosperous Justice Party (, sometimes called the Justice and Prosperity Party, Indonesian name literally translated "Party of Secure/Peaceful Justice"), frequently abbreviated to PKS, and formerly the Justice Party (, PK), is an Islamism, Isl ...
of supporting establishment of
caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
in Indonesia and undermining national ideology, Pancasila, changing it to
Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...
. All four parties denied his accusations and sued him for defamation. Due to both immunity of legislators and his gubernatorial bid in the 2018 gubernatorial election, the case was delayed. Islamic groups affiliated with the 212 movement later held protests demanding his arrest and trial for blasphemy. He resigned from the council to run as governor and was replaced on 20 March 2018 by Jacki Uli.


Governor

He ran for governorship of
East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara (; ) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the north, with a total land area of 47,238.07 km2. It cons ...
in the 2018 election. Paired with Josef Nae Soi as running mate, he won the four-candidate race with 838,213 votes (35.6%). Laiskodat was sworn in on 5 September 2018. Immediately after being sworn in, Laiskodat announced to media that he would put a moratorium on mining in the province. The moratorium was issued on 14 November 2018, but environmental activists criticized the regulation for only suspending mining activities in the province to evaluate existing regulations, instead of halting mining entirely. Shortly after he became governor, Laiskodat stated his intent to legalize the brewing of local alcoholic beverages in the province - namely, Moke in
Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...
and Sopi in
Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...
. The beverage, which was to be called "Sophia", was planned to begin production in June 2019. In early 2019, his administration announced plans to close
Komodo Island Komodo ( ) is one of the 17,508 islands that comprise the Republic of Indonesia. It is particularly notable as the habitat of the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on Earth, which is named after the island. Komodo Island has a surface area of 29 ...
to visitors for a year to allow the government to manage the park better and increase the population of both deer and the lizards. In July 2019, it was confirmed that Komodo Island would be closed for a period to tourism beginning in 2020 to allow a conservation program to be implemented. Laiskodat has also publicly spoke out in opposition to
halal tourism Halal tourism (sometimes called Halal travel or halal-friendly tourism) is a subcategory of tourism which is geared towards Muslim families who abide by rules of Islam. The hotels in such destinations do not serve alcohol, have separate swimming ...
in the area, stating that "tourism has nothing to do with religion." In 2019, the provincial government announced its plans to open a provincial trade office in neighboring
East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...
. In October 2019, Laiskodat publicly called for the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to block access to
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in Indonesia, calling for the development of a local social media platform similar to the Chinese internet. During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Laiskodat agreed to provide quarantine to 17 East Timor nationals returning from
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
in East Nusa Tenggara, as East Timor had no quarantine facilities and initial requests to quarantine them in
Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...
had been rejected by Bali's administration. As the virus spread in Indonesia, he instructed schools to close by 20 March, at which point the province had 38 people under monitoring for the disease. In February 2023, Laiskodat ordered high schools in the province to begin activities at 5 AM. After the end of his first term as governor, he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives representing East Nusa Tenggara's 2nd district, but as he placed second out of Nasdem candidates in the district with 63,359 votes, he failed to qualify for the sole Nasdem seat there. However, as the first place candidate resigned shortly after the election to run in the
2024 Indonesian local elections Local executive elections ( Indonesian: ''Pemilihan Kepala Daerah'' or Pilkada) to elect governors, mayors and regents in Indonesia were held on 27 November 2024 across 545 regions: 37 provinces, 415 regencies and 93 cities, which covered all pr ...
, Laiskodat took her place in the legislature.


Family

He is married to Julie Sutrisno Laiskodat, a graduate of
UT Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the second oldest university in the University of Texas System and was founded in 1895. It was in the Texas A&M ...
. The couple has three sons.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laiskodat, Viktor 1965 births Living people Nasdem Party politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2004 Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2014 People from Kupang Governors of East Nusa Tenggara Indonesian Protestants Satya Wacana Christian University alumni