“Maybe I'm the most nationalistic person. As they used to say, if you were to open up my heart, what would come out would probably be red and white,” President Prabowo Subianto said at an economic summit on April 8.

Since taking office, Prabowo has branded himself as a leader of the people. The former Army general who contested four prior elections before eventually winning in 2024, has remained consistent over the years in asserting the need for Indonesia to stand on its own two feet without reliance on the outside world.

Prabowo’s “my way or the highway” mindset is reflected in major policies like energy resilience, food self-sufficiency, village cooperatives and free schools for the poor. But at the center of his initiatives is his flagship free nutritious meal program.

During the inauguration of the Danantara sovereign wealth fund, which he initiated, Prabowo questioned why, after close to 80 years of independence, children were still starving in the country. The President called on the people to rally behind him in moral indignation in his efforts to feed 83 million Indonesian children.

The program’s entire premise revolves around people collectively buying into the idea that providing daily meals is in the best interest of the children, as well as the future prosperity of the country.

This appeal to emotion is a powerful political tool, and one that philosopher Hannah Arendt explored in The Human Condition (1958). Arendt argued that when a nation was treated as "one enormous family", this would inevitably lead to control and conformity. According to her, this control can be manifested through the most sacred of human traits: love.

Arendt viewed love as an "anti-political" force. She believed politics was a public space where unique individuals engaged in discussion and deliberation. Love, by contrast, was private, unconditional and all-consuming.