Indonesian Pencak Silat is the overall champion at the 2025 SEA Games. (Photo: IPSI)
THUNDER Applause broke out when the red and white flag rose slowly at the Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani, Thailand on Wednesday 17 December 2025. Three times a day. Indonesia has won gold three times in the sport of pencak silat at the 2025 SEA Games.
Previously, on Sunday 14 December 2025, the Indonesian contingent won the first gold medal in pencak silat from the men’s team. Overall, Indonesia won 4 gold medals, which means it met the target of 4 gold medals at the 2025 SEA Games.
Behind these seemingly clinical achievements, there are traces of leadership that do not receive much public attention: the duo of Prabowo Subianto as General Chair of the PB Indonesian Pencak Silat Association and Inspector General of Police. Nunung Syaifuddin as team manager directly led the troops to Bangkok.
Achieving four gold medals is not just luck that appears at the end of the year. It is the fruit of consistent leadership built over decades. Prabowo Subianto, who is still the General Chair of PB IPSI for the 2021-2025 period, holds a central position in rebuilding the foundation and ecosystem of Indonesian pencak silat, both domestically and on the world stage.
Under his command, silat was not only practiced as a sport. It has become an instrument of culture, national identity, as well as an achievement commodity that Indonesia strives for in regional events.
Apart from leading PB IPSI, Prabowo also serves as General Chair of Persilat and President of IPSF, placing him in a strategic position in the international martial arts arena. Even though he has stated several times that he wants to be replaced after leading for decades, he remains the main reference figure. In Jakarta, the daily wheels of IPSI are run by Sugiono as Acting. Chairman, while the long-term strategy remains under Prabowo’s control. It is from this policy space that the target of four gold medals at the SEA Games was set, ambitious but measurable.
Nunung Syaifuddin, Deputy Head of the National Police Criminal Investigation Unit, was the target’s field hand. Equipped with organizational leadership and typical corps discipline, he leads the fighters from the training room to the competition arena. Athletes call him not just a manager, he is a mentor, psychologist and even a motivator. “Training hard is not enough without a winning mentality,” was Nunung’s message which was repeatedly quoted by coaches. And, the results speak without rhetoric.
