Abdon is a Toba Batak from North Sumatera, Indonesia. He was elected to the position of Secretary General of AMAN (Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago) at the third Congress of the Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago (Kongres Masyarakat Adat Nusantara – KMAN) in 2007 for a five year term. In 2012 at the fourth Congress, he was reelected to the position of Secretary General for a subsequent five year term until 2017.
Before leading AMAN, Abdon worked with a number of civil society activist groups in the interests of protecting and recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples. He was the Coordinator of the Steering Committee at Network for the Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Jaringan Pembelaan Hak-hak Masyarakat Adat – JAPHAMA), a group of Indonesian non-government organizations defending indigenous peoples’ rights.
In addition to his role as Secretary General, Abdon also holds a number of other positions at non-government organizations including Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Yayasan Setara / NTFP, an organization that aims to encourage sustainable production and environmental protection of non-timber forest products, Chairman of the Council of Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) and advisor at the Samdhana Insitute.