Susilo (44) beat the experienced Lou Robinson (Leith) 21-8 in what turned out to be a one-sided final.
The Andersons Bay pairs team of Bobby Johnson and Regan Larkin won the open pairs six days ago.
"It feels awesome to join Bobby and Regan and win my first centre title," Susilo said.
"I didn't think I'd get through."
It looked doubtful in the semifinal against Larkin on Sunday when he was down 4-14 but came back to win 21-19.
Susilo, a lecturer in Indonesian orchestras and puppetry at the University of Otago music department, migrated to New Zealand 17 years ago when he married a Dunedin woman, Katherine Knox.
His father-in-law, Doug Knox, taught him to bowl in 1993 and he played for the St Kilda club for the next six years.
He dedicated his win to the memory of Knox, who died in 2003.
Susilo played bowls until 1999 and then received a Fulbright scholarship to study for a PhD at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire in the United States, and also studied in Europe at that time.
He returned to Dunedin last year and joined the Andersons Bay club, and appreciated the backing of club members and his wife at the green last night.
Susilo concentrated on the draw shot but when the need arose he played an accurate upshot to shift the jack.
He was also skilled at getting nudges off other bowls.
Susilo started strongly, with a two and three on the first two ends, and added singles on the next two ends to lead 7-0.
Robinson has a strong drive but he had to be wary about over-using it last night because he was playing catch-up bowls throughout the game.
Susilo kept on accumulating shots and he advanced with three four-end clusters of points.
His second cluster came from the seventh to the tenth ends when he scored a further seven points to lead 14-2.
He added another cluster of points from the 12th to the 15th ends to add four points and lead 19-3.
Robinson had two shots on the 15th end when Susilo ran the jack into the ditch and added the bonus shot with his last bowl.
He applied pressure on the 18th end when he drew his first bowl close to the jack to advance to 20 and won the on the 21st end when Robinson's drive flicked the jack sideways to Susilo's bowl.
Robinson collected five shots from the 16th to the 20th ends.
But it was too little, too late.
