He hoped to succeed Indonesia’s outdated dictator. He ordered the kidnappings of pro-democracy activists. He was accused of atrocities throughout the brutal army occupation of East Timor. He has mentioned elections are towards his nation’s tradition.
Nonetheless, Prabowo Subianto has tried his hand at democratic politics over the previous 20 years, adopting totally different personas in a number of makes an attempt to turn into Indonesia’s chief.
Now, a month earlier than the subsequent elections, nearly each opinion ballot exhibits that 72-year-old Prabowo is within the lead within the first spherical of voting. His rise, with the assistance of a operating mate who’s the son of well-liked outgoing President Joko Widodo, has alarmed thousands and thousands of Indonesians who nonetheless bear in mind the brutal and kleptocratic rule of Suharto, Mr Prabowo’s former boss and father-in-law. .
A victory for Mr. Prabowo, his critics warn, would revive a darkish previous.
“What’s going to occur is the dying of democracy,” mentioned Hendardi, director of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace. Like many Indonesians, he goes by one title. “We have now been towards Prabowo for a very long time,” he added, “and with our restricted energy we have been nonetheless in a position to stop him from shifting ahead. However now he has acquired this assist.”
Throughout the marketing campaign, Mr Prabowo, the present protection minister, dismissed issues about his report.
However he has continued to reveal his strongman bona fides. Throughout a presidential debate this month, Mr Prabowo spoke of the necessity to develop a powerful army. With out that military, he mentioned a nation “can be crushed,” simply because it was in Gaza at present.
He’s in a three-way race with Anies Baswedan, the previous governor of Jakarta, and Ganjar Pranowo, who ruled Central Java.
To win outright on February 14, Mr Prabowo would want to win at the very least 51 p.c of the vote. Surveys present him effectively forward of his rivals, however his assist stands at round 46 p.c, implying he’ll seemingly be pressured right into a runoff in June and certain face more durable competitors.
For years, a Prabowo presidency was thought-about an unlikely risk in Indonesia, one in every of Southeast Asia’s most vibrant democracies.
For a lot of Indonesians, Mr. Prabowo is an emblem of Suharto’s 32-year rule. After Suharto’s ouster in 1998, he was dismissed from the Indonesian military after the armed forces found his involvement within the kidnapping and torture of pro-democracy activists. Greater than a dozen are nonetheless lacking and feared lifeless.
Ucok Munandar Siahaan was a 21-year-old scholar when he disappeared on Might 15, 1998. His father, Paian Siahaan, 76, later found he had helped detained anti-government activists. He has been urgent authorities for solutions for many years.
Each evening, Mr. Paian mentioned he prayed the identical prayer: “God, please save him.” In latest months he has added one other: that Mr Prabowo wouldn’t turn into president.
“I do not assume he can be elected due to our prayers, the prayers of the oppressed individuals,” he mentioned.
Mr Prabowo’s human rights report – which incorporates allegations that his feared Kopassus particular forces massacred tons of of individuals throughout the crackdown in East Timor – led america to ban him from to disclaim land.
He has by no means been charged in a prison court docket.
In 2014, he offered himself as a army strongman, delivering nationalist speeches however shedding to Mr Joko. 5 years later, Mr. Prabowo portrayed himself as a religious Muslim and leaned on communal canine whistles, accusing Mr. Joko of secretly being a “Chinese language Christian.” He failed once more, however claimed he was a sufferer of election fraud and known as on hardline Islamists to protest the outcomes of violent road demonstrations. (Indonesia has the most important Muslim inhabitants on this planet.)
On this marketing campaign, Mr. Prabowo tried to shake his popularity for a brief mood by portraying himself as a gemoy, or cute, grandfather who dances at gatherings. And he has implicitly received Mr Joko’s assist by naming his 36-year-old son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as his operating mate. Billboards throughout Indonesia function cartoons of the chubby, doe-eyed Mr. Prabowo and Mr. Gibran.
Mr. Prabowo was not accessible for remark, mentioned Budiman Sudjatmiko, the vice chairman of the advisory board of the Prabowo-Gibran marketing campaign crew, who was as soon as a fierce critic of Mr. Prabowo. The presidential candidate, he mentioned, had “realized quite a bit” from the encirclement by Mr Joko and his supporters.
“He’s now not in army service, so he ought to play a job as a civilian politician – reachable, approachable and friendlier,” mentioned Mr Budiman, who was a political prisoner underneath Suharto’s regime.
This makeover has taken maintain amongst Indonesian youth, the nation’s largest voting bloc. Individuals underneath the age of thirty didn’t develop up underneath Suharto, and lots of know little concerning the horrors of his regime as a result of they don’t seem to be included within the nation’s textbooks.
For Defi Afra, a 21-year-old first-time voter who has seen movies of Mr. Prabowo on TikTok: “He’s a humorous, humorous determine. He additionally appears good and pleasant.”
Ms. Defi, a scholar within the metropolis of Yogyakarta, mentioned she solely not too long ago realized of Mr. Prabowo’s previous on social media. However she shrugged her shoulders and mentioned, “He could not refuse the orders of his superiors.”
The rebuilding of Mr. Prabowo’s picture started years in the past, when Mr. Joko appointed him protection minister. He emerged as a average politician loyal to Mr Joko, who was identified for his down-to-earth type and talent to work with politicians from totally different events. The appointment additionally allowed Mr. Prabowo to re-enter america.
However Mr. Prabowo’s tenure in that place was marred by setbacks, together with a failed try to purchase second-hand fighter jets and a failed meals safety program.
Mr Joko initially appeared to assist his occasion’s candidate, Mr Ganjar, the previous Central Java official. In October, Mr. Gibran joined Mr. Prabowo’s ticket. The alliance, critics say, is an try by Mr. Joko to extend his affect over Indonesian politics by grooming his son for the presidency. For now it has the recognition of Mr. Prabowo enlarged even additional.
“It’s totally miserable,” mentioned Goenawan Mohamad, the founding father of Tempo, a number one investigative journal.
Mr Prabowo, in line with Mr Budiman, desires an Indonesia that’s “extra simply and fairer socio-economically”, pointing to his proposal totally free milk in colleges and his plan to rework Indonesia, whose economic system is pushed by uncooked supplies, right into a “digital nation”. nation.”
Mr. Prabowo was born into one in every of Indonesia’s most outstanding political households. His father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, fled Indonesia within the Fifties after being accused of supporting an rebellion towards the federal government. Mr. Prabowo spent his early years in England and Switzerland and later attended the Indonesian Army Academy. Within the Nineteen Eighties he married a daughter of Suharto, though they separated about fifteen years later.
In line with native information media reviews, he’s mentioned to have amassed a fortune of roughly $130 million. His brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo, himself a tycoon, helped discovered the Gerindra occasion within the late 2000s, which has turn into the car for Mr. Prabowo’s political ambitions.
In June, he defined why he was as soon as once more vying for the presidency.
“I really feel like God has given me many blessings, benefits and advantages,” he instructed a tv host. “I’ve been given the chance to know the issue of this nation.”
However many villagers throughout Indonesia have a unique opinion. In 2020, Mr Joko put Mr Prabowo answerable for a program geared toward curbing the nation’s dependence on meals imports.
In Desa Talekung Punei village, the federal government mentioned it wished to unlock about 20,000 hectares of forest land to develop rice. No feasibility research have been achieved to see if the land was appropriate for rising rice, mentioned Ihwan, a resident and activist for a nonprofit group.
Residents opposed the plan, saying they relied on the forest for his or her livelihood. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Protection despatched groups to clear areas of land. When the seeds arrived, they have been expired and stuffed with bugs, Ihwan mentioned. The nation is now abandoned.
Hindryati too And Hasya Nindita reporting contributed.
