Zulfikar Achmad

Zulfikar Achmad died at Rumah Sakit Premier Jakarta at about 16.30 WIB on Wednesday 4 November 2026, aged 80. Rully, a person close to him, told Jambi Ekspres that he had been in hospital in Jakarta for almost a month and that his health had declined after Covid 19, which Rully described as long Covid. No other medical cause was made public.

The DPR announced his death on its official social media accounts, with the leadership, members and Secretariat General expressing deep condolences and recalling his dedication and service. Democratic Party chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono posted his condolences on Instagram, and Commission VIII deputy chair Abidin Fikri also paid tribute. Election bodies in Jambi, including the KPU of Tanjung Jabung Barat and Bawaslu of Sarolangun, published messages of mourning.

His family chose to bury him at TPU Al Azhar in Karawang, West Java, rather than in his home regency of Bungo. The burial was scheduled for after the midday prayer on Thursday 5 November 2026.

Zulfikar Achmad was born on 17 May 1946 in Tanah Tumbuh, in present day Bungo Regency, Jambi province, Sumatra. He grew up in the Bungo and Merangin area and was already a student organiser in the mid 1960s, chairing the KAPI student action front in Merangin and the student body of his secondary school in Muara Bungo in 1965 and 1966. After finishing secondary school he left Jambi for Jakarta, the move Indonesians call merantau, to study and build a career.

He attended a state elementary school (SR Negeri) from 1954 to 1960, SMP Negeri Muara Bungo from 1960 to 1963 and SMA Negeri Bangko from 1963 to 1966. In Jakarta he studied in the shipping programme of the Akademi Tata Laksana Pelayaran Niaga (ATPN) Veteran, finishing in 1970. He later earned a sarjana degree in public administration from Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Jakarta in 1985, giving him the title Drs.

His early career was in merchant shipping. He worked as an assistant manager at PT Prodisa Shipping Lines and as assistant commercial manager at PT Porodisa Raya Shipping Lines from 1975 to 1979, then as director of operations at PT Timika Jaya in Jakarta from 1982 to 1986. From 1986 to 2001 he led several private companies as director or president director, among them PT Jasamina, PT Bukit Silungko Prakarsa, PT Arbes Guntung Prakarsa and PT Semagi Hotel Prakarsa. A 2024 asset declaration to Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), reported by Infonesiaku, put his total wealth at about Rp25.7 billion.

He served two terms as Bupati of Bungo, from 2001 to 2006 and from 2006 to 2011. Muara Bungo Airport and the H. Hanafie Muara Bungo Regional Hospital are remembered as legacies of his leadership, and he was widely called the father of Bungo's development. In 2010, near the end of his second term, he was one of the candidates for Governor of Jambi in the regional election, but he was not elected.

A member of the Democratic Party since 2004 and chair of its honour council in Jambi province, he was elected to the DPR for the Jambi electoral district in 2014 and took his seat on 1 October 2014. In his first term he sat on Commission IX (labour, transmigration, population and health) and held frequent constituency recess events in Bungo promoting national health insurance and healthy living programmes. He was re-elected in 2019 and in 2024. Sworn in for a third term on 1 October 2024 at 78, he was named the oldest member of the 2024 to 2029 DPR. In that term he served on Commission VIII, which oversees religious and social affairs. He was still a serving member when he died.

A practising Muslim, he was active for decades in Islamic and civic bodies: the Muslim student association HMI in Jakarta, the national youth committee KNPI in Jakarta, the Indonesian Muslim Entrepreneurs Association (IPMI), where he was secretary general, Pemuda Muslimin Indonesia in Jakarta, which he chaired, and the community association Warga Jaya in Jakarta (1978 to 1986), which he also chaired. In 1999 he was secretary general of the Partai Indonesia Baru before joining the Democratic Party in 2004.

He was married to Hj. Netty Herlina, and the couple had six children. The family home, where mourners gathered after his death, is in Pondok Kelapa Indah, Duren Sawit, East Jakarta. The names of his children have not been widely published.

On 22 September 2025 Universitas Jambi political analyst Nasuhaidi said Zulfikar could not carry out his role as a representative of Jambi to the full because he was ill, so that his role had become largely symbolic, and urged the Democratic Party to address the situation. The illness was not specified at the time. He remained in office until his death.

In Bungo he is remembered above all for the decade he led the regency and for projects including Muara Bungo Airport and the H. Hanafie regional hospital. The current Regent of Bungo, H. Dedy Putra, called him not merely a leader but an inspirer who laid important foundations for the development of the regency, whose motto is Langkah Serentak Limbai Seayun. Nationally he is remembered as the oldest member of the 2024 to 2029 House of Representatives and as one of the Democratic Party's longest serving legislators from Jambi.