{"id":11217,"date":"2024-04-30T11:07:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T04:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/uncategorized\/the-implications-for-indonesian-democracy-after-prabowos-2024-win\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:27:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T09:27:27","slug":"the-implications-for-indonesian-democracy-after-prabowos-2024-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/publications\/the-implications-for-indonesian-democracy-after-prabowos-2024-win\/","title":{"rendered":"The Implications for Indonesian Democracy after Prabowo\u2019s 2024 Win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article was re-uploaded from Reset Dialogues on Civilizations<\/a><\/em>
Artikel ini diunggah ulang dari Reset Dialogues on Civilizations<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After losing four elections, former general and Defense Minister\u00a0Prabowo Subianto\u00a0won 58 percent of the vote on February 14, 2024. He and his running mate\u00a0Gibran Rakabuming Raka, President Jokowi\u2019s eldest son, are expected to be inaugurated as president and vice president in the coming months after the Constitutional Court\u00a0rejected appeals<\/a>\u00a0by two losing candidates for a re-run of the\u00a0presidential election\u00a0and the disqualification of Prabowo\u2019s running mate for\u00a0ethical violations<\/a>\u00a0and \u201cstructural, systematic, and massive\u201d\u00a0electoral fraud<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In what may have been the worst elections since Indonesia\u2019s post-1998 democratization, Prabowo\u2019s current victory is the result of Machiavellian tactics \u2013 unethical cunning to attain personal ambitions \u2013 and reflects the fundamental threat to Indonesia\u2019s nascent democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What went wrong?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From the beginning, Prabowo and Gibran\u2019s candidacy and campaign have been criticized for promoting a political dynasty and manipulating voters. Their candidacy was secured after the Constitutional Court granted an appeal<\/a> to lower the minimum age for presidential and vice presidential candidates from the current 40 years to 35, allowing 36-year-old Gibran to run as Prabowo\u2019s running mate. The ruling was issued by Chief Justice Usman, Jokowi\u2019s brother-in-law, and sparked popular uproar over perceived nepotism and abuse of law and ethics. Previously, the Court had rejected similar requests<\/a>, citing an open legal policy and the jurisdiction of Indonesia\u2019s parliament. The decision has contributed to a decline in public trust in the Constitutional Court, amid concerns that Jokowi may influence the judiciary<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, despite his popularity, Prabowo is often seen as a\u00a0populist politician<\/a>\u00a0with a\u00a0poor human rights record<\/a>. For the 2024 elections, he rebranded himself\u00a0from a classic strongman and ultra-nationalist politician into an endearing and affable uncle. However, evidence shows that, while Prabowo\u2019s campaign was framed by fun politics, he was repeatedly caught on camera making\u00a0harsh remarks<\/a>\u00a0about his rivals during rallies. This\u00a0adjustment<\/a>\u00a0simply demonstrated political flexibility, adaptation, and strategic considerations in gaining power. Therefore, it is not surprising that Prabowo, who was previously known as Jokowi\u2019s main opponent, quickly switched sides, became Jokowi\u2019s man, and\u00a0declared himself as Jokowi\u2019s successor.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Populist leaders like Jokowi and Prabowo have marred the 2024 election by using the democratic process to seize power. It is relevant to note\u00a0Jokowi\u2019s political maneuvres and interventions to back Prabowo-Gibran\u2019s candidacy\u00a0and campaign. A year ago, Jokowi openly stated that he would intervene in the election, citing his\u00a0moral obligation as president<\/a>. He went on a \u201cpolitical safari\u201d and held meetings with volunteer and support groups, village head associations and apparatuses, as well as religious mass organizations. He also accompanied Prabowo on various visits throughout Indonesia. Many people believed that Jokowi was also the key factor behind the party leaders\u2019 decision to nominate Gibran as Prabowo\u2019s running mate, after he declared that he had\u00a0all the intelligence data on political parties<\/a>, including their direction support for the 2024 election.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Jokowi has been accused of running a\u00a0<\/span>populist campaign<\/a>,\u00a0from distributing early social aid to raising the salaries\u00a0of civil servants, police, and the military. He was also accused of exploiting state resources and infrastructure to mobilize voters through incentives or threats. Jokowi\u2019s intervention also involved other ethical and legal violations by government officials: some of his ministers\u00a0<\/span>campaigned without leave permission<\/a>, while the governor of Jakarta distributed\u00a0<\/span>food bags in a light blue color<\/a>\u00a0that is identical to Prabowo\u2019s campaign colour icon. Even though Jokowi never openly supports Prabowo and Gibran,\u00a0his subtle language and gestures consistently suggest the opposite. Jokowi, an incumbent president with record-high approval ratings, knows that people understand where his support goes. Moreover, Prabowo\u2019s campaign consistently highlights the jargon of continuing Jokowi\u2019s policies.<\/span><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implications for democracy?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While the 2024 election results reflect the use of Machiavellian tactics, Indonesian politics has shown how elected leaders have used their popularity to push through laws and policies that destroy systems of checks and balances, prevent free and fair elections, and weaken political rights and civil liberties, resulting in the deterioration of democracy. This has been evident since the paralysis of democratic reforms<\/a> during Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono\u2018s term, and it is becoming more apparent under Joko Widodo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike Yudhoyono,\u00a0Jokowi<\/a>\u00a0has often made surprising moves to stay in power. Once\u00a0a beacon of hope<\/a>, his administration has quickly regressed to illiberalism. Contrary to the popular belief that democratic consolidation is imminent, his tenure has seen a\u00a0significant decline in the democratic integrity of political institution through \u201cinsidious\u201d authoritarian innovation methods\u00a0that weaken democratic rights. These\u00a0authoritarian innovations<\/a>\u00a0have damaged democracy in three ways: first, stricter candidacy restrictions have\u00a0reduced electoral competitiveness\u00a0and increased political spending. Second, it affected civil rights protection, as certain political elites exploited identity politics to\u00a0oppress minorities. Third, it has affected the way the government uses highly illiberal measures to defend its position.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jokowi has also used innovative authoritarian methods to delegitimize protests, challenge political opposition, and instill\u00a0fear among online and civic activists<\/a>. Jokowi\u2019s government has also been associated with the\u00a0mainstreaming and legitimization of conservative and anti-pluralistic political Islam<\/a>, contrary to the perceived beliefs of strong support for\u00a0human rights and religious freedom<\/a>. Jokowi\u2019s use of Machiavellian tactics in the 2024 elections shows how innovative authoritarian methods have influenced the electoral process and undermined political parties, election management bodies, and the Constitutional Court.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Prabowo\u2019s poor commitment to democracy has long been recognized, despite his\u00a0pledge\u00a0<\/a>during the presidential debate to preserve the country\u2019s democracy. In his victory speech after the quick count, he openly expressed his displeasure with Indonesia\u2019s democracy, calling it\u00a0\u201ctiring, very costly, and very messy.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0His calls to return Indonesia to its 1945 Constitution, which has served as the legal basis for centralized governance and unlimited executive power while failing to defend human rights, are seen as\u00a0a clear path to authoritarianism<\/a>. With his recent\u00a0maneuvers<\/a>\u00a0to call for elite union and all political party backing for his administration, Prabowo intends to have full control of parliament and dismantle democratic checks and balances once in power.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image Source: <\/strong>Yasuyoshi Chiba \/ AFP<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was re-uploaded from Reset Dialogues on CivilizationsArtikel ini diunggah ulang dari Reset Dialogues on Civilizations After losing four elections, former general and Defense Minister\u00a0Prabowo Subianto\u00a0won 58 percent of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[237,155],"tags":[177,178,179,180],"class_list":["post-11217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-article","category-publications","tag-demokrasi","tag-joko-widodo","tag-pemilu-2024","tag-prabowo-subianto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12244,"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11217\/revisions\/12244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puskapol.fisip.ui.ac.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}