The chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, is known as a strong-willed military leader. Friends and enemies alike have told stories of his legendary temper, the most famous incident being a heated exchange with then president BJ Habibie over the latter’s decision to sack him from the leadership of the Army’s Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) in May 1998.

Prabowo may have recently joked that he should have launched a coup d’etat, but his reputation remains long after his military days.

Analysts have said that Prabowo, even when he set up Gerindra on Feb. 6, 2008, has remained a strong-willed leader.

Little has been heard about internal dynamics within Gerindra, that is until last year when the public were made aware that Halida Hatta, daughter of the country’s first vice president, had decided to leave the party.

Believing that she shared the party’s vision, to bring equality and prosperity to more people, Halida had joined Gerindra in 2007 and helped set up the party’s internal rules together with other executives, including deputy chairman Fadli Zon and secretary-general Ahmad Muzani.

Many believed that Halida’s inclusion on the party’s executive board would give a feminine touch to a party that had, thus far, been dominated by military figures such as Maj. Gen. (ret.) Muchdi Purwoprandjono, an ally of Prabowo and former deputy chairman of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and Lt. Col. Eddhy Prabowo, a middle ranking officer with the Indonesian Army, who now serves as House of Representatives Commission VI on state-owned enterprises.

It was also expected that Halida would improve the profile of the party, which is now marred by the association with human rights abuses.

Prabowo himself has been accused of involvement in human rights abuses during his stint in East Timor (now Timur Leste) as well as an alleged role in the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in May 1998.

Muchdi was tried for his involvement in the murder of human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib in 2004. He was cleared of all charges.

Muchdi left Gerindra to join the United Development Party (PPP) in early 2011 due to a “personal conflict” with Prabowo.

No details were available as to why Muchdi decided to leave the party, but Fadli said later that Muchdi’s deeply regretted the decision and he hoped that Muchdi, who was then a close ally of Prabowo, would “get what he wants” in PPP.

As for Halida, she stated clearly that she had resigned from the party because there was no decision making mechanism to speak of.

Soon after she announced her resignation from Gerindra in July last year, Halida said she was forced into the decision because she was excluded from the decision making process within Gerindra.

Halida also lamented the party’s arbitrary decision to transfer the votes that she won in the election to other candidates, without her consent. Citing the incident as an indication of a “critical communication” problem within Gerindra.

Moreover, Halida has not been the only one to go.

In March last year, during the party’s extraordinary meeting, Prabowo announced the dismissal of the party’s head of science and technology, Fami Fachrudin, which many party members said was the pinnacle of an internal rift within the party. Fami later issued a statement criticizing the party’s culture.

“The military clique [in Gerindra] has led to an abuse of power, which prevents criticism of the leadership,” Fami said through his Twitter account.

Supporters of Prabowo said that democracy prevails within the party.

“Nothing is wrong with Pak Prabowo’s leadership. He leads us according to our internal regulations,” secretary-general Ahmad Muzani told The Jakarta Post recently, adding that the resignation of some party executives were of a personal nature.

“Regulations have granted Pak Prabowo the authority, as the chief patron, to make decisions concerning the party. You fill find the same mechanism in other parties,” Muzani emphasized.

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