Posted in: Politics

Prabowo’s inner circle is dominated by young, groupthink-prone loyalists. What could go wrong?  

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These individuals often accompany the president from his residence in Hambalang, West Java, to the State Palace in Jakarta. They travel with him, join official state visits, and take part in both small and large cabinet meetings.

‘Dark Indonesia’ and Jokowi’s legacy of predatory populism

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Instead of dismantling the entrenched power of oligarchic elites, Jokowi’s populism has deepened predatory tendencies by attacking institutional reforms established after the fall of Suharto. His political strategy has aligned the accumulation of capital with business interests, populist rhetoric, and bureaucratic life—while also weakening legal structures to allow exploitation of state resources and redistribution of wealth to political allies.

Will the new Military Law bring back Soeharto’s Dual Function?  

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The sight of the military swarming the streets to prevent student protesters from disrupting a DPR plenary session brought back memories of President Soeharto’s New Order, when soldiers were an integral and oppressive part of Indonesian political and social life.

Is Prabowo reviving the Soeharto regime?

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It is true that Indonesia’s democracy has come under severe oligarchic pressures that would exist regardless of who won the last presidential election. However, Prabowo seems to have the know-how, and, more importantly, the personal determination, to recreate a socio-political order that closely reflects Soeharto’s Integralistic state — the political model instrumental for the creation and maintenance of his autocratic oligarchic system.

Prabowo’s 100 days in office: more grandstanding, less policymaking? 

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The president needs a reality check — how did he fare, really, in his first 100 days?     

Prabowo’s myth of ‘polite democracy’

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The reproduction of cultural narratives and myths, such as the ideal of a harmonious village, often serves to maintain the existing power hierarchy. The new administration’s emphasis on similar narratives, now presented as ‘polite democracy’, warrants caution because it can be easily abused to silence critics and suppress opposition.

Will Anies and Ahok join forces to challenge the Jokowi-Prabowo alliance?   

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While it is hard to predict whether Ahok and Anies’ reconciliation was genuine, it certainly reflects changing elite configurations in Indonesian politics after the 2024 presidential election. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is now serving as the only opposition party to the Jokowi-backed Prabowo Subianto government, and so Ahok, a PDI-P member, now finds himself in the same boat as his former enemy, Anies, a key political enemy of both Jokowi and Prabowo.

Talking Indonesia: art, activism and a cancelled show

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In this week's episode, Dr. Jemma Purdey chats with Dr Wulan Dirgantoro, a lecturer in art history and curatorship at the School of Culture and Communication, the University of Melbourne, about the cancelled art exhibition by Yos Suprapto and what it means for freedom of expression, art and activism in Indonesia.

2024 year-end review: Winter is coming for Indonesia’s civil society forces 

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If what transpired in 2024 is any indication of what to come, we can safely say that 2025 will not be a democratic spring for Indonesia.

Indonesia at Melbourne is supported by:

Melbourne Law School Asia Institute Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society Indonesia Forum Faculty of Arts Indonesia Democracy Hallmark Research Initiative

Indonesia at Melbourne

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The University of Melbourne
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Phone: +61 3 83448581

Email:  indo-at-melb@unimelb.edu.au

Date created: 1 July 2015

Editor: Ary Hermawan

Editorial board: 
Professor Tim Lindsey
Dr Tim Mann
Aron Corbett

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