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Budiman’s pivot could shield Prabowo from rights abuse allegations
A trickle of former student activists from the late 1990s are lining up behind the former general and son-in-law of late president Soeharto, but analysts say that human rights isn’t a key election issue among the millennial and Gen Z voters who will dominate the 2024 polls.
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Defense Minister and Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto (left) shakes hands with Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Budiman Sudjatmiko in Jakarta on July 18, 2023. (The Jakarta Post/Antara)
F
ormer student activist Budiman Sudjatmiko’s recent declaration of support for presumptive nominee Prabowo Subianto appears to have given the retired army general the ammunition – and buffer – he needs to fight back against alleged rights violations that have cast a long shadow over his track record.
Budiman openly declared his support for Prabowo’s 2024 bid last week in Semarang, Central Java, saying the Gerindra Party chair was the kind of leader the country needed now. He also formed a group of supporters called Prabowo-Budiman United, or Prabu for short.
The declaration surprised many, as Budiman once led the People’s Democratic Party (PRD), a leftist party that grew from the student-led movements of the late 1980s and played an important role in pressuring the country's decades-long authoritarian ruler Soeharto to step down in May 1998. Budiman, along with nine other PRD members, was detained and tried for inciting the July 27, 1996 riots that eventually led to the end of the New Order two years later.
Prabowo, who was commander of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) at the time, was allegedly involved in the abduction of several activists toward the end of the New Order regime. This was widely seen as a failed effort to keep his former father-in-law Soeharto in power, which he has always denied.
Fast-forward 25 years and after losing two consecutive bids for the presidency against Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, a member of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Prabowo appears to have found an unexpected ally for his third bid next year: Budiman, now a PDI-P member and former lawmaker.
At a press conference after declaring his support and announcing Prabu’s formation last Friday in Semarang, Prabowo apologized to Budiman for what happened to him in 1998. He said it was not his intention "to go after" Budiman but that he had been ordered to do so, without giving any other details.
Read also: Budiman throws support behind Prabowo, hopes PDI-P will join hands with rival
