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Prabowo’s government: Return of blue-blooded nobility rule?
Prabowo’s massively expanded cabinet is no doubt designed not for efficiency but rather as a feast to reward those who supported him and to welcome those who joined him afterwards to make his ship sail smoothly.
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Prabowo Gibran inauguration cartoon (JP/T. Sutanto)
T
he fulfillment of what is likely President Prabowo Subianto’s lifelong dream of leading the country has been almost three decades in the making, driven in part by his fiery passion to rehabilitate his name after the fall of president Soeharto, his then-father-in-law, in 1998.
Prabowo found himself on an odyssey, wandering the globe without a home for almost half a decade, from the United States to Jordan and beyond, before being able to come back to Indonesia.
He did not miss a beat upon his return in 2001, immediately going after his goals. He rejoined the Golkar Party and maneuvered to find his position in a starkly new Indonesian political constellation. His first attempt at Indonesian electoral politics was straight for the throne in the 2004 presidential election, in which he failed to gain Golkar’s nomination.
Such was the long and winding road that Prabowo traveled to finally reach the apex of Indonesian political power. It is a story of a return from a fall from grace, in contrast to Jokowi’s “rags-to-riches” narrative. It is essential to keep this mosaic of his story in mind when understanding his upcoming leadership and the formation of his cabinet and inner circle in governing Indonesia.
Prabowo’s massively expanded cabinet is no doubt designed not for efficiency but rather as a feast to reward those who supported him and to welcome those who joined him afterwards to make his ship sail smoothly. A nearly 30 percent increase in ministerial seats, from 34 to almost 50, is expected to add some Rp 2 trillion (US$129 million) to government expenses.
Prabowo’s presidency raises two important questions in regard to the future of the country. First, what will the state of our democracy be? And, second, what will the quality of governance be? While the two are interrelated, it seems Prabowo’s political philosophy draws a clear boundary between the two.
