Indonesia: Former general Prabowo Subianto becomes president

Prabowo Subianto, a 73-year-old former general, was sworn in on Sunday, becoming Indonesia’s eighth president with the ambition of strengthening the role of Southeast Asia’s largest economy on the international stage.

The former Minister of Defense who succeeds Joko Widodo, nicknamed “Jokowi”, in power since 2014, won by a large margin in the first round of the presidential election last February against two other candidates, despite accusations of human rights abuses during the Suharto era.

“I swear that I will perform the duties of President of the Republic of Indonesia as best and fairly as possible, that I will respect the Constitution and that I will apply all laws and regulations as strictly as possible,” Prabowo said before national representation.

The non-aligned strategy dear to Indonesia

After his swearing in, the new head of state must go to the Merdeka presidential palace where Joko Widodo will hand over the reins after a decade in power.

In terms of foreign policy, Prabowo pledged to follow Indonesia’s non-aligned strategy, while promising to be more daring. After a first visit to China following his election, he visited Russia, Saudi Arabia and Australia where he signed a new security agreement.

The ex-military inherits the largest economy in Southeast Asia and the world’s largest nickel reserves. He takes the helm of a country of 280 million inhabitants, around half of whom are under 30 years old.

To ensure his election on his third attempt, his detractors accuse him of having benefited from strong support from Jokowi, accused of having put state resources at the service of the candidate and his running mate Gibran, who is not other than the eldest son of the outgoing president, aged 37.

The kidnapping of pro-democracy activists

Security was reinforced in Jakarta for the inauguration ceremony with around 100,000 police and soldiers mobilized. Traffic is restricted in the center of the capital while Prabowo must parade between Parliament and the presidential palace.

Tens of thousands of Indonesians were expected along the route to greet the eighth leader of the country which became independent in 1945, after centuries of Dutch domination.

Several foreign leaders or officials attended the inauguration ceremony, including British Foreign Minister David Lammy and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng.

NGOs and former military leaders accuse Prabowo, then head of a special forces unit, of ordering the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists during the regime of dictator Suharto in the late 1990s. According to the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras), 23 activists were kidnapped between 1997 and 1998.

A return to grace

Nine were found alive, one was found dead and 13 remain missing. Discharged from his military duties in 1998 due to these disappearances, Prabowo has always denied these accusations and has never been charged.

Long deprived of a visa by the United States and Australia for these allegations of human rights violations, he experienced a return to favor as Minister of Defense and made numerous visits abroad in these functions , including in Washington and Canberra. During the electoral campaign, his team remodeled his image to make him a “nice grandfather”, thanks in particular to a very strong presence on social networks.

The decision to choose Gibran as his running mate for the vice presidency also proved popular, but also sparked controversy. It was in fact necessary to modify the electoral law by a commission chaired by Jokowi’s own brother-in-law to lower the age of the candidates and thus allow Gibran to run. If Jokowi leaves a country which is experiencing stable growth around 5%, Prabowo wants to be even more ambitious with a high objective of 8% growth.

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