By Anton Lutter
On the 20th of last October the 8th president of the Republic of Indonesia was inaugurated at Parliament in Jakarta. Prabowo Subianto and his vice-presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming, the son of the 7th president Joko Widodo, won the presidential election with almost 60% of the vote. Previously Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusomo – his full name – was minister of Defense in the cabinet of his predecessor since 2019.
Born in Jakarta 1951 as the son of prominent Indonesian economist and – amongst others – minister of Finance Sumitro Djojohadikusumo (1917-2001), who studied in Rotterdam and was actually the first Indonesian student to obtain a doctorate there. His grandfather Margono Djojohadikusumo (1894-1978) was of an aristocratic background but more important he was the founder of the Bank Negara Indonesia and its first president.
Briefly he worked as an official in the Dutch Ministry of Colonies in The Hague and participated in the Round Table Conference with the Netherlands preparing for Indonesia’s independence, he was later replaced by his son Sumitro. Unlike his father and grandfather before him his career was not in academics. He entered the National Military Academy in Magelang (Central Java) in 1970 and graduated in 1974, in 1985 he attended the Advanced Infantry Course at Fort Benning in Georgia (USA).
Prabowo Subianto made a fast career in the army, becoming the commandant of Army Strategic Reserve Command (KOSTRAD) in 1998. Shortly after President Suharto stepped down as president of Indonesia that same year, Prabowo Subianto, who was married to the one of the president’s daughters, was honorably discharged thus ending a 24-year military career. He then joined the business operations of his family at the same time founding the Gerindra Party in 2008. For this party he was both presidential candidate in the 2014 and 2019 elections, which he both lost to Joko Widodo, who thus served 2 terms as president.
During the latter 2nd term Prabowo Subianto was appointed minister of Defense as Gerindra Party being part of Joko Widodo’s Onward Indonesia Coalition government. As the popular president was not able to run in the 2024 election (maximum of two terms) Prabowo Subianto became the foremost candidate and won presidential election convincingly with the son of Joko Widodo as his running mate.
In February 2024 president Joko Widodo awarded Prabowo Subianto the title of honorary four-star general. The president was married to Titiek Hediati Haryadi, the second daughter of long time president Suharto, she is a member of the People’s Representative Council (parliament) since 2014. They have one son Didit Prabowo who is a prominent Indonesian fashion designer.
