Indonesia's President-elect Prabowo Pitches a Broad Political Tent on Unsteady Democratic Ground

Picture: East Asia Forum

In an article by East Asia Forum, Liam Gammon analyzes Prabowo’s political trajectory against Indonesia’s democratic backsliding.

Prabowo has locked in this dominance by building an unprecedentedly broad party coalition ahead of his inauguration on 20 October. All Indonesian presidents seek to minimise the prospect of pushback against their programs by forming party coalitions far bigger than required to simply pass legislation — but even before the election Prabowo openly flagged his ambitions to be the first president to build a governing coalition that encompasses all the parties represented in parliament.

It’s plausible that Prabowo might become the first democratically-elected president to achieve that goal. Parties that backed his opponents in February’s election haven’t wasted time in striking deals to join Prabowo’s coalition in exchange for representation in his cabinet — and with that, the opportunities to tap state budgets to recoup the huge expenses incurred in the legislative polls also held in February. To make room for all these parties, moves are underway to amend legislation to allow for the expansion of ministerial-level positions from 34 to 40. Even the major holdout, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) — of which President Widodo is an estranged member — is more likely than not to join the fold eventually.