Denny Januar Ali, known as Denny JA (born 4 January 1963 in Palembang, South Sumatra) is a writer, political consultant, intellectual, litterateur, entrepreneur, and researcher. In 2021, the Essay Poetry Community nominated him as a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In Indonesia, Denny JA is listed as the second person ever to be nominated as a Nobel Literature nominee after Pramoedya Ananta Toer. He holds records in the academic, political, social media, literature and cultural worlds in Indonesia.
Denny JA was named by Time magazine in 2015 as one of 30 most influential people on the Internet. This recognition was regarding his role in utilizing social media in shaping public opinion and polls in Indonesia's 2014 presidential election.
In late July 2015, Denny JA's book Fang Yin's Handkerchief (English and German edition) become the no. 1 best-seller in Amazon.com kindle book poetry. Denny JA is also known for giving birth to a new genre of essay poetry through his book In the Name of Love. Around 150 poetry books have been published in Indonesia and Southeast Asia based on the new genre of essay poetry.
In 2014, he was awarded by Twitter, Inc. as The World No 2 Golden Tweet 2014, and the No 1 in Indonesia. He was also awarded by MURI as the first and the only political consultant in the world helping and winning presidential election three times in a row. In his case, the presidential elections he was involved were in Indonesia in 2004, 2009, and 2014. In the same year, he was chosen as one of 33 the most influential literature figures in Indonesian history by a team of eight (a team of prominent poets, critics and academicians).
On 16 August 2018, he and his institution Lingkaran Survei Indonesia held the largest political education and were awarded the Guinness World Records. As for the award in literary works, he received the 2020 ASEAN Humanitarian and Diplomacy Literature Award from the Sabah Language and Literature Agency, Malaysia and the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indonesian Writers Guild Satupena for his dedication and innovation in the world of writing for 40 years. He is also widely reported as a pioneer of NFT in Indonesia. His painting entitled: A Portrait of Denny JA: 40 Years in The World of Ideas is Indonesia's first NFT ever sold at the public gallery, Opensea, in April 2021, for 27.5 ETH, worth one billion Indonesian rupiahs at the time.
Denny JA is also known as a social activist promoting and campaigning non-discrimination movement and funding this movement by his own money after he is successful as a businessman.
Background
In the academic world, Denny JA founded the Indonesian Survey Foundation (LSI, Lembaga Survei Indonesia 2003), the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI, Lingkaran Survei Indonesia 2005), the Public Association of Opinion Research (AROPI, 2007), and the Indonesian Political Consultancy Association (AKPI, 2009). Through these four organisations Denny JA has become known as the founding father of a new tradition in Indonesian public opinion surveying and political consultancy.
Denny JA popularised the quantitative social science that has been able to predict the winners of local and general elections in Indonesia since 2004. He predicted the winner of the 2009 presidential election one month before it took place. The incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, predicted Denny JA, will win in just one round. He went massively public with his prediction in the newspapers and on national TV. His prediction was the hottest topic of conversation during the 2009 presidential elections and even became the subject of an official debate between the presidential candidates which was aired by many national TV stations. His prediction was accurate, and Denny JA was awarded the title of News Maker of the 2009 Election by the Indonesian Association of Journalists. In the political world (2004–2012), Denny JA has been dubbed a king maker thanks to his instrumental role in the victories of two presidents (2004, 2009), 23 governors out of the 33 Indonesian provinces, and 51 regents and mayors. Through his entrepreneurship he has turn political consultancy into a new profession, and an effective one.
Denny JA also scored a hit when he overturned articles contained in both the 2009 Law on Legislative Elections and the 2009 Law on Presidential Elections. Twice the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of Denny JA in his position as chairman of the association of survey institutions (AROPI). Articles which restricted academic freedom, such as those banning the quick count on the day of the election were overturned by the Constitutional Court.