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Indonesian
presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto from the Great Indonesia
Movement Party (Gerindra) delivering his response during the third
presidential debate tackling foreign policy and national defense issues
in Jakarta on June 22, 2014. (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)
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Jabbing
his finger repeatedly in the air, presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto
shouted to supporters in a packed Jakarta stadium that the corrupt had
no place in Indonesia.
“You who
disgrace Indonesia, you who buy Indonesia … we must answer ‘No! Not this
time! Indonesia wants to stand with dignity,’” the pugnacious former
special forces general said to a roar of applause in a speech ahead of
this week’s election.
Behind him,
applauding, sat one of the most senior Indonesian officials ever to be
investigated in a government probe into graft, who is also the head of a
major Islamic party supporting Prabowo’s July 7 presidential bid.
Suryadharma Ali
quit as the religious affairs minister in May after being named by
Coruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of being involved in embezzling
from the $5 billion state fund allocated for the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Indonesia, the biggest economy in southeast Asia, has the world’s
biggest population of Muslims.
Suryadharma has maintained his innocence. “Being made a suspect is not the final say on the matter,” he told local media.
But the
presence of Suryadharma and others being investigated for corruption in
his coalition raises the question of how effective Prabowo may be if he
beats front-runner Joko Widodo to lead the world’s third-largest
democracy for the next five years.
His other
allies include the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), whose chairman was
jailed over a beef import scandal, and the Golkar party of business
tycoon Aburizal Bakrie, several of whose members are facing corruption
charges. Most of the allies are in the coalition of current President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
“The spirit of
democracy is being damaged by various practices,” Prabowo said in a
debate with his rival on Saturday. “I’m not saying there are no thieves
in my party. But what I meant was this is a phenomenon in our country,
who knows you might have them on your side.”
Prabowo’s
brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo, a central figure in his campaign, said
earlier: “We have to make a few unintentional, unwanted compromises. The
Indonesian judicial system presumes, innocence before proven guilty, so
I don’t want to comment on the recent cases. But we will not compromise
on our basic thesis.”
Insiders say
all of Prabowo’s coalition partners have been promised seats in the
cabinet, including a special, senior position for Bakrie, the head of
the Bakrie Group, a prominent resources-to-telecommunications
conglomerate that has struggled with environmental and debt problems.
“Prabowo says
‘welcome’ to every political party. ‘Welcome what do you want? One, two,
three positions?” said Fahmi Idris, a senior official with Golkar.
However, Bakrie
spokesman Lalu Mara Satri Wangsa, who is also vice secretary general of
Golkar, denied any deals had been agreed.
Prabowo has declined comment when asked about deal-making with coalition allies.
Three officials from his Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) did not return e-mailed requests for comment.
Close race
Opinion polls
still have the popular and unassuming Joko in the lead, but the
combative Prabowo, running on a platform of strong and effective
government, is close behind. A crucial number of voters are undecided.
Transparency
International ranks Indonesia 114th out of 177 countries it surveys on
perception of corruption. The World Economic Forum’s Global
Competitiveness Report has said corruption remained “the most
problematic factor for doing business” in Indonesia.
One of the
world’s fastest growing countries just a few years ago, the economy is
projected to be at its weakest in four years in 2014 because of falling
prices of its commodity exports, a weak rupiah currency and patchy
policy.
Despite
Prabowo’s reputation as a strongman and his vow to reverse the
indecisiveness of Yudhoyono’s outgoing government, markets are more
likely to cheer a Jokowi win in the hope that he represents a change
from Indonesia’s old-style horse-trading in politics.
“Jokowi
represents a break with that kind of past. There is a lot of hope
invested in political change of the kind that Jokowi represents,” said
Tim Condon, ING Asia’s chief economist.
The rupiah has
fallen around five percent over the past three months, accompanying a
steady narrowing in the lead Jokowi had in opinion polls over Prabowo.
The stock market, Asia’s worst performer in 2013 in dollar terms, has
fallen almost 3 percent since mid-May, when Joko’s lead started
slipping.
The strongman
Prabowo was once married to a daughter of former iron ruler Suharto, and was a favored member of his inner circle at the time.
He has been
dogged by persistent allegations of past human rights abuses, in
particular during the economic crisis that led to Suharto’s downfall in
1998. Shortly thereafter, Prabowo was discharged from the army for
breaking the chain of command and ordering troops to arrest activists.
But he was
never investigated on any criminal charge and has consistently denied
any wrongdoing. Now 62, this is his third shot at the presidency.
Prabowo also
caused a flutter last week with comments that suggested to some analysts
that he may try to turn the clock back on Indonesia’s transition to a
full democracy after Suharto’s three decades of autocratic rule.
“There are many
things (from the West) that we implement, that we imitate, out of our
own simplicity,” he said at a seminar in Jakarta. “It turns out that
these things aren’t appropriate for our culture. But it’s already a
fact. For example, direct [presidential] elections.”
But he was quick to retract.
“I believe in
democracy. I was a soldier, a professional soldier. And I swore an oath
to defend the Indonesian constitution … This is already my third general
election. So I do it the hard way. I don’t go and assemble tanks and
take over parliament house,” he told a later meeting.
Firman Noor, a
political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said
even if Prabowo was so inclined, there was very little likelihood that
Indonesians would allow a move away from full democracy.
“It will be a
step to political suicide for Prabowo to pursue this when he knows there
will be almost no support for it,” he said.
Prabowo did not
speak to Reuters for this article. But in an interview two years ago,
he said what Indonesia needed was a strong government.
“There are
always leaders and people who will look for reasons not to try anything
new. But the Indonesian leadership must have the will, the toughness,
the character, the courage, to think and try to look for creative
solutions,” he said.
“I was brought up with the motto ‘who dares, wins’ and I think it is time for the Indonesian elite to dare.”
Additional reporting by Fransiska Nangoy in Jakarta and Aubrey Belford in Bangkok
Reuters
