A wealthy ex-general with ties to both Indonesia’s popular outgoing president and the country’s dictatorial past will be inaugurated as its leader on Sunday.
He has promised to continue his predecessor’s widely popular policies, but his human rights record has activists, and some analysts, concerned about the future of Indonesia’s democracy.
At the election in February, Prabowo Subianto, 73, presented himself as heir to the immensely popular President Joko Widodo, the first Indonesian president to emerge from outside the political and military elite.
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Subianto, who was then defence minister, vowed to continue the modernisation agenda that has brought rapid growth and vaulted Indonesia into the ranks of middle-income countries.
In a speech last month, Subianto, who’s also the chair of the Gerindra Party, reminded party members to always remain loyal to the nation, not to him. He also vowed his unwavering commitment to defend the people, even at the cost of his life.
“Once you smell I’m on the wrong path, please leave me,” Subianto said, “My life, my oath … I want to die for the truth, I want to die defending my people, I want to die defending the poor, I want to die defending the honour of the Indonesian nation. I have no doubt.”
But Subianto will enter office with unresolved questions about the costs of rapid growth for the environment and traditional communities, as well as his own links to torture, disappearances and other human rights abuses in the final years of the brutal Suharto dictatorship, which he served as a lieutenant general.
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Human rights groups have claimed that Subianto, a former special forces commander, was involved in a series of human rights violations in East Timor in the 1980s and 1990s, when Indonesia occupied the now-independent nation. Subianto has denied those allegations.
Other than promising continuity, Subianto has laid out few concrete plans, leaving observers uncertain about what his election will mean for the country’s economy and its still-maturing democracy.
A former rival of Widodo who lost two presidential races to him, Subianto embraced the popular leader to run as his heir, even choosing Widodo’s son as his running mate, a decision that ran up against constitutional age limits and has activists worried about an emerging political dynasty in the 25-year-old democracy.
But for now, he appears to enjoy widespread support. He secured a majority in the election on February 14, winning 59 per cent, or more than 96 million votes in a three-way race, more than enough for victory without a run-off.
That includes includes the $US30 billion project to build a new capitol city called Nusantara. A report by a coalition of NGOs claimed that Subianto’s family would profit from the Nusantara project, thanks to land and mining interests the family holds on East Kalimantan, the province where the new city is located. A member of the family denied the report’s allegations.
Subianto and his family also have business ties to Indonesia’s palm oil, coal and gas, mining, agriculture and fishery industries.
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