Presidential Favourite in Indonesia Stirs Fears of ‘Death of Democracy’

He hoped to succeed Indonesia’s longtime dictator. He ordered the kidnappings of pro-democracy activists. He was accused of atrocities through the ruthless navy occupation of East Timor. He has mentioned elections run counter to his nation’s tradition.

Even so, Prabowo Subianto has spent the previous 20 years attempting his hand at democratic politics, donning totally different personas in a number of makes an attempt to grow to be Indonesia’s chief.

Now, a month earlier than the following election, almost each ballot exhibits Mr. Prabowo, 72, main within the first spherical of voting. His rise, with the assistance of a operating mate who’s the son of the favored departing 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 will happen is the death of democracy,” mentioned Hendardi, the director of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace. Like many Indonesians, he goes by one title. “We have long been against Prabowo,” he added, “and with our limited power, we were still able to prevent him from moving forward. But now he has gained this support.”

On the marketing campaign path, Mr. Prabowo, who’s the present protection minister, has dismissed issues about his observe report.

However he has continued to show his strongman bona fides. At a presidential debate this month, Mr. Prabowo talked about the necessity to develop a powerful navy, saying with out it, a nation “will be crushed,” simply as in Gaza right this moment.

He’s in a three-way race with Anies Baswedan, the previous governor of Jakarta, and Ganjar Pranowo, who ran Central Java.

To win outright on Feb. 14, Mr. Prabowo would want to clinch no less than 51 % of the vote. Surveys present that he’s far forward of his rivals, however his help tops off round 46 %, implying he’ll most likely be pressured right into a runoff in June and prone to face stiffer competitors.

For years, a Prabowo presidency was thought of a distant chance in Indonesia, one among Southeast Asia’s most vibrant democracies.

To many Indonesians, Mr. Prabowo is an emblem of the 32-year reign of Suharto. Following Suharto’s 1998 ouster, he was discharged from the Indonesian navy after the armed forces discovered he was concerned within the abduction and torture of pro-democracy activists. Greater than a dozen stay lacking and are feared lifeless.

Ucok Munandar Siahaan was a 21-year-old scholar when he vanished on Could 15, 1998. His father, Paian Siahaan, 76, found later that he had been serving to detained anti-government activists. For many years, he has been urgent the authorities for solutions.

Each evening, Mr. Paian mentioned he prayed the identical prayer: “God, please save him.” In current months, he has added one other one: that Mr. Prabowo wouldn’t grow to be president.

“In my mind, he will not be elected because of our prayers, the prayers of the oppressed people,” he mentioned.

Mr. Prabowo’s report on human rights — which additionally consists of accusations that his feared Kopassus particular forces slaughtered a whole lot in a crackdown in East Timor — led the US to bar him from coming into the nation for years.

He was by no means charged in a prison court docket.

In 2014, he offered himself as a navy strongman, bellowing nationalistic speeches, however misplaced 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 Christian.” He failed once more however claimed that he was a victim of election fraud and rallied hardline Islamists to protest the leads to violent avenue demonstrations. (Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim inhabitants.)

On this marketing campaign, Mr. Prabowo has tried to shed his status for a unstable mood by portraying himself as a gemoy, or cute, grandfather who dances at rallies. And he has implicitly received the backing of Mr. Joko by naming his 36-year-old son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as his operating mate. Billboards throughout Indonesia present cartoons of a doe-eyed and chubby Mr. Prabowo along with Mr. Gibran.

Mr. Prabowo was not obtainable to remark, mentioned Budiman Sudjatmiko, the deputy chairman of the Prabowo-Gibran marketing campaign staff advisory board, who was as soon as a fierce critic of Mr. Prabowo. The presidential hopeful, he mentioned, had “learned a lot” from being surrounded by Mr. Joko and his supporters.

“He’s no longer in military service, so he should play a role as a civilian politician — reachable, accessible and more friendly,” mentioned Mr. Budiman, who was a political prisoner below the Suharto regime.

This makeover has discovered traction amongst Indonesia’s youth, the nation’s largest voting bloc. Folks below 30 didn’t develop up below Suharto, and lots of know little concerning the horrors of his regime as a result of they don’t seem to be coated 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 is a funny, humorous figure. He also seems nice and kind.”

Ms. Defi, a scholar within the metropolis of Yogyakarta, mentioned she solely just lately discovered of Mr. Prabowo’s previous on social media. However she shrugged it off, saying, “He couldn’t refuse orders from his superiors.”

The rehabilitation of Mr. Prabowo’s picture started years in the past, when Mr. Joko appointed him to be defense minister. He emerged as a average politician loyal to Mr. Joko, who was recognized for his down-to-earth fashion and talent to work with politicians from totally different events. The appointment additionally allowed Mr. Prabowo to re-enter the US.

However Mr. Prabowo’s tenure in that job has been marred by setbacks, together with a failed effort to purchase secondhand fighter jets and a botched meals safety program.

Mr. Joko initially appeared to help his get together’s candidate, Mr. Ganjar, the previous Central Java official. Then in October, Mr. Gibran joined Mr. Prabowo’s ticket. The alliance, critics say, is an effort by Mr. Joko to increase his influence on Indonesian politics by grooming his son for the presidency. For now, it has pushed Mr. Prabowo’s recognition even greater.

“It is very depressing,” mentioned Goenawan Mohamad, the founding father of Tempo, a distinguished investigative journal.

Mr. Prabowo, in accordance with Mr. Budiman, needs an Indonesia that’s “more just and more fair socioeconomically,” pointing to his proposal of free milk in faculties and plan to remodel Indonesia, whose financial system is pushed by commodities, right into a “digital nation.”

Mr. Prabowo was born to one among Indonesia’s most distinguished political households. His father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, fled Indonesia within the Nineteen Fifties after he was accused of supporting a insurrection towards the federal government. Mr. Prabowo spent his early years in England and Switzerland and later attended Indonesia’s navy academy. Within the Nineteen Eighties, he married a daughter of Suharto, although they separated about 15 years later.

He’s thought to have amassed a fortune of about $130 million, in accordance with native information media experiences. His brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo, a tycoon himself, helped arrange the Gerindra Occasion within the late 2000s that has grow to be the automobile for Mr. Prabowo’s political ambitions.

In June, he laid out why he was vying once more for the presidency.

“I feel that God has given me many blessings, benefits and advantages,” he instructed a tv host. “I have been given the opportunity to understand the problem of this nation.”

However many villagers throughout Indonesia have a special view. In 2020, Mr. Joko put Mr. Prabowo in command of a program aimed toward curbing the nation’s reliance on meals imports.

Within the village of Desa Talekung Punei, the federal government mentioned it wished to clear about 20,000 acres of forest land to develop rice. There have been no feasibility research accomplished to see if the soil was appropriate for rising rice, in accordance with Ihwan, a resident and activist for a nonprofit group.

Residents resisted the plan, saying they relied on the forest for his or her livelihoods. Nonetheless, the Protection Ministry despatched in groups to clear tracts of land. When the seeds arrived, they’d expired and had been infested with bugs, Ihwan mentioned. The land now sits deserted.

Rin Hindryati and Hasya Nindita contributed reporting.