Indonesia Election: All about Prabowo Subianto, set to be the next President
The Indonesian Defence Minister, who is set to become the country's next President, contested for the third time for this role. In 2014 and 2019, he lost to the immensely popular outgoing president Joko Widodo
Prabowo Subianto, a former Army General once prohibited from the US for human rights violations, is set to become Indonesia's new President. While the official results will be announced next month, early figures show Prabowo winning close to 60 percent of the vote.
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The Indonesian Defence Minister, who is set to become the country's next President, contested for the third time for this role. In 2014 and 2019, he lost to the immensely popular outgoing president Joko Widodo. Widodo's eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka is Subianto's running mate.
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Subianto was born in 1951 to one of Indonesia's most powerful families. His father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, was an influential politician, and a minister under Presidents Sukarno and Suharto. Subianto enrolled in Indonesia’s Military Academy in 1970, graduating in 1974 and serving in the military for nearly three decades.
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In the year 1976, Subianto joined the Indonesian National Army Special Force, called Kopassus. He was commander of a group that operated in what is now East Timor. He got married to Suharto's daughter in 1983.
Subianto and several members of Kopassus were banned from travelling to the United States for years over the alleged human rights abuses they committed against the people of Timor-Leste. In 2019, Widodo brought Subianto into his cabinet as defence minister and it was then that the ban got lifted.
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Prabowo was the front-runner going into the poll, thanks to the apparent support of Widodo, known popularly as Jokowi. Local media reports suggest that the former President faced backlash from activists and allies for engineering the nomination of his son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka -- as well trying to swing the election for Prabowo.
