Ganjar Pranowo

He had three brothers, Pri Kuntadi, Pri Pambudi Teguh (b. 1961), and Joko Prasetyo, and two sisters, Prasetyowati, and Nur Hidayati.

His father took part in counter-insurgency operations, including the crackdown of PRRI rebels.

Pamudji was the son of Mangku Wirono who was a son of Danu Wiyono who was a grandson of Kanjeng Raden Tumenggung Mandoyo Nagoro who has a son, Raden Mas Abdullah, which has the same lineage with Sunan Kalijaga.

Ganjar's mother owned a grocery shop and selling petrol in front of the shop, and also provided services as a seamstress.

She later married Pamudji and had six children, including Ganjar who was the youngest son, and continued to sell petrol with him.

Ganjar's birth name, Ganjar Sungkowo, translates to "reward after troubles/sadness (Sungkowo)".

However, when he entered school, his second name was changed to Pranowo because his parents feared that the child would "always wallow in misfortune and trouble" if it remained as Sungkowo.

Because of his father's assignments, his family often moved, including to Kutoarjo where Ganjar went for junior high school at SMPN 1 Kutoarjo.

For senior high school, he attended a private school in the city of Yogyakarta.

In high school, he was active in scouting activities.

Ganjar Pranowo (born 28 October 1968) is an Indonesian politician who served as the governor of Central Java between 2013 and 2023.

He is a member of the nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

He is a candidate for the 2024 Indonesian presidential elections, running alongside former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia, Mahfud MD.

Ganjar Pranowo was born Ganjar Sungkowo on 28 October 1968, as the fifth of the six children of a family in a village on the slopes of Mount Lawu, Karanganyar, to S. Pamudji Pramudi Wiryo (1930–2017), a police officer, and Sri Suparni (1940–2015), a homemaker.

Towards the end of high school in the late 1980s, his father retired from police service, forcing his mother to open a grocery shop and sell gasoline on the roadside to make ends meet.

After graduated from high school, he continued his studies at the Faculty of Law at Gadjah Mada University (UGM).

During his college years, Ganjar was active in the Indonesian National Student Movement known as Gerakan Mahasiswa Nasional Indonesia (GMNI).

He also served as a chairman of the Justicia Student Club (Majestic-55), a nature lovers organization founded by UGM Law Faculty students, from 1988 until 1990.

While studying at UGM, Ganjar had taken two semesters off due to not having the money to pay for tuition.

During his leave, he carried out mountain climbing activities and taught high school students about nature science.

Ganjar graduated with a law degree in 1994 with his thesis examiner Professor Nindyo Pramono.

He was involved in student demonstrations during college and often protested against government, and university policies.

Ganjar earned a postgraduate degree from Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at University of Indonesia, graduating in the Political Science Masters program.

After graduating from Gadjah Mada University, Ganjar relocated to Jakarta to pursue work in oil and gas sector, and working for PT Prakarsa Pramandita as a human resource development consultant officer.

He also worked for other companies, including PT Prastawana Karya Samitra and PT Semeru Realindo Inti.

Active in GMNI and admiring Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, Ganjar Pranowo joined the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), which was created with a Sukarnoist core, in 1996.

The party was then hit by an internal conflict between supporters of Suryadi, who bowed to the authoritarian government of President Suharto, and Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri who rebelled against the political subjugation.

She later created a splinter, PDI-P, which complete version means the rebel faction of PDI.

Ganjar Pranowo, a passionate Sukarnoist, supported Megawati and the PDI-P resistance, eventually leading him to choose a career in politics.

Ganjar Pranowo witnessed firsthand the deadly 27 July 1996 incident when a mob of police officers and soldiers in civilian garb stormed the PDI headquarters.

The attack was meant to intimidate and discourage the anti-government movement led by Megawati against Suharto's undemocratic crackdown on political freedom.

The experience hardened Ganjar's choice to jump into politics through Megawati's movement.

Until the 1998 resignation of Suharto, it was difficult for anti-government politicians to hold onto their day jobs and they were frowned upon.

As Ganjar's father was a police officer and his brother was a judge, his political move also troubled his family who worked for the government as Suharto's New Order regime required loyalty from state officials who must support the authoritarian president's Golkar party.

During Trisakti shootings on 12 May 1998, Ganjar visited the campus and witnessed a kid burning a truck in front of the campus.

He then helped a journalist who had been shot and said the incident was the moment that resonated most with him regarding the May 1998 riots of Indonesia.

After years of working for the PDI-P consolidation after the 1998 transition to democracy, Ganjar Pranowo in 2004 officially entered public service as a national legislator in Jakarta.

Fresh-faced, folksy, and articulate, former student protester Ganjar Pranowo quickly rose in popularity as a politician who has the gift of speaking to the public and media.

Previously, he represented Central Java as a national legislator in the People's Representative Council (DPR) for two terms from 2004 until 2009 and 2009 until 2013.

He has been described as a left-wing populist.