Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has never tried to hide his pride over choosing Gibran Rakabumi Raka as his running mate in his third bid for the presidency. Many are still guessing about the biggest reason behind Prabowo’s enthusiasm for the eldest son of President Joko "Jokowi” Widodo.

Is it just because he believes Gibran, the mayor of Surakarta, is his good luck charm?

Numbers certainly play an important part. Jokowi is still highly popular with ratings above 70 percent, exactly a year before he completes his second and final term. Prabowo seems very confident that with the President’s full backing, he will be elected as Indonesia's eighth president next year. Eight is Prabowo’s favorite number.

But there must be something else besides numbers.

Prabowo, who just turned 72, said the country needed young people to run the country, like during the early years of an independent Indonesia. He cited Sutan Syahrir, who was 36 when he was named as the country’s prime minister in 1945, and military commander Gen. Sudirman, who led the guerilla war against the Dutch at the age of 27.

"My father was an assistant to the prime minister when he was just 28 years old, and became finance minister at 31," Prabowo said on Saturday of his late father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo.

Sumitro and his family fled the country in 1957 after he joined a separatist movement against Sukarno’s government and only repatriated in 1966, after Soeharto had replaced Sukarno and established the New Order.

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