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View all search resultsA mandate squandered
Meaningful reform in the Prabowo administration would require not only a reshuffle but a reduction in size, a step that would signal seriousness about governance over optics.
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Hard times: President Prabowo Subianto (center) hugs a flash flood survivor on Dec. 01, 2025, at an evacuation post in Pandan, Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra. Indonesian and Thai authorities have raced to clear debris and find hundreds of missing people as the death toll from devastating floods and landslides continues to increase. (AFP/YT Hariono)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto closes his first full calendar year in office with what few Indonesian leaders have enjoyed: overwhelming electoral legitimacy, near-total political control and a legislature almost entirely aligned behind him.
Yet 2025 will be remembered less for decisive governance than for a widening gap between power accumulated and power effectively exercised.
A strong mandate is not merely a political endorsement; it is an obligation to govern with clarity, coordination and urgency – not with lip service or performative gestures.
In Prabowo’s case, consolidation came swiftly, but governance did not follow at the same pace. The formation of a bloated, big-tent coalition may have neutralized opposition and delivered short-term stability. But it also removed friction, and with it, accountability.
Consensus replaced scrutiny, and authority concentrated at the top without being translated into institutional discipline.
This imbalance has been visible across the administration. As retired general and security analyst Kiki Syahnakri observed bluntly in August, Prabowo has been “holding power but is yet to truly govern”.
The presidency has increasingly taken on the appearance of a one-man show, with weak coordination among cabinet members and decision-making that appears centralized around presidential preference rather than structured processes.
