After graduating,he worked for a time as a site manager and later project manager at construction companies. In 1999,he became president director at an engineering company. In 2007,he joined a law office as a managing partner. [3]
DPR member
In the 2014 Indonesian legislative election,he was elected for a seat in the national House of Representatives (DPR) from East Java's 1st district (Surabaya and Sidoarjo). He would be reelected from the same district in 2019 and 2024. [2] Within DPR,he was in the Third Commission,covering law and human rights,between 2014 and 2024,with a brief stint in the 9th commission in 2015. [1] [2] During his time in the commission,he opposed the proposed criminalization of premarital sex,which had been suggested by several parties for a revision of the Indonesian Penal Code. [4] He was also briefly on the body's ethics council during the case of DPR speaker Setya Novanto in 2017. [5] On 1 October 2024,he was elected as a deputy speaker of DPR,with Puan Maharani as speaker. [6]
On 22 August 2025,with an ongoing controversy over an increase in allowance payments for DPR members,Kadir spoke up in defense of the increases in a media interview and noted some increases in allowances for food,fuel,and housing. [7] In particular,in his initial interview Kadir touched on a new Rp 50 million monthly housing allowance (provided in lieu of official housing),and cited that it was based on a daily housing allowance of Rp 3 million (US$200). He would retract his statement shortly after,claiming that the allowance would be Rp 3 million per month,multiplied by twelve months in a year. [8] His statements (described by Jawa Pos as "nonsensical") went viral on social media. [9]
Kadir's statement,along with others made by some DPR members,triggered public outcry,resulting in protests in late August which escalated into civil unrest and rioting across the country. [10] On 31 August,the party announced that Kadir had been suspended from his membership in DPR,including his leadership position,effective on 1 September 2025. [11]
