New President in Indonesia – DAY AND TIME

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Outanriks

Lars S. Vikr

2024 is a year full of potentially difficult elections, and that could also apply to the world's fourth most populous country, Indonesia, with 276 million people. There, presidential elections were held in February, with Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo the big winner. But only recently, on October 20, did he succeed his predecessor, Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, as he is generally known.

These are names that Norwegians know and with which they associate something special, and there may be good reasons to consider the situation in such a change, the transition from the seventh to the tenth president of Indonesia after the independence of the country in 1945.

Prabowo Subianto was born in 1951. His father was a central politician under Indonesia's first two presidents, Sukarno (1945-68) and Soeharto (1968). Prabowo had a military career under Soeharto, who also became his father-in-law, and played a central role during the occupation of East Timor from 1975, with the state terrorism that entailed.

In 1998, when Soeharto was forced to resign after massive riots, Prabowo actively suppressed the riots. Several democracy activists were captured and tortured, while others were kidnapped and disappeared. During this phase, internal contradictions arose within the military and Prabowo lost this power struggle. He was deposed and then chose to go abroad (to Jordan) and go into business, with great success.

But after a few r he turned to politics in newly democratized Indonesia, with an eye toward the presidency. Indonesia now has a five-year presidential term, and more elections are underway, just as the United States is blocking the arrival of new thirty-year presidents like Soeharto. In 2014, Prabowo ran as a presidential candidate. Opposite him was the much younger Jokowi, at the time governor of Jakarta, who had become popular as an effective, pragmatic, non-corrupt leader in a position where he could do something for ordinary people. Jokowi won the election by a clear margin.

As president, Jokowi advocated forceful policies, including improving the country's infrastructure and developing roads, railways, ports and airports. He made it a major force in the country as a weak power. On the other hand, he disappointed those who wanted him to address human rights violations during the Soeharto era; here it represented a line of smoothing and silence. He repressed human rights, among other things. with increased use of the death penalty in drug cases and prison sentences for statements addressed to the president.

The next presidential election, in 2019, was a repeat of the previous one. Jokowi ran for office and Prabowo ran against him. Jokowi won again, now with a 10 percent margin over Prabowo.

Jokowi could thus continue his policy. During his second term as president, he launched a major new project: the construction of a new capital on the east coast of Kalimantan (Borneo), called Nusantara. In Jakarta, climate change and rising sea levels have caused parts of the city to sink into the sea.

But soon after the 2019 elections, Jokowi took a new turn: he appointed Prabowo as defense minister. As the 2024 elections approach, he confirmed this alliance by supporting Prabowo as the new presidential candidate. Prabowo chose Jokowi's own son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as his running mate. Two other politicians came forward as counter-candidates, but Prabowo now dominated the election campaign with some superiority and, when the elections were held in February last year, he won with 58 percent of the vote.

How he pulled this off with the experience he had, will probably be a tough talking point for a long time. What is certain is that during the election campaign he managed the campaign in an essentially modernized manner, which largely erased the impression of his role as one of Soeharto's hardliners.

Through effective and highly successful use of Tiktok and other social media, he achieved cult status among the younger generation, who clearly had not experienced the Soeharto era. His political profile today is at odds with that of Jokowi, and it seems that he is continuing the policies of his predecessor. In the new constellation, Jokowi will likely still have an impact on what happens.

Those working to strengthen democracy and human rights are likely skeptical, to say the least, because this consideration does not appear to be on the agenda of the new leaders.

On controversial geopolitical issues, Jokowi and Prabowo try to follow a line of compromise and maintain positive relations with the United States and Russia. On the Middle East question, Indonesia clearly takes a pro-Palestinian line. In relations with China, where obvious tensions also exist in the maritime area around Indonesia, Prabowo has drawn a line of detente.

What is happening in Indonesia is rarely shown in Norwegian media, but perhaps there are good reasons to also follow developments there in the coming times.

Lars S. Vikr is an Indonesian connoisseur.