By talking to Prabowo’s friends, not just blindly repeating what his political enemies would like us to believe, Bayuni would hear stories not only about his strong leadership and daring on the battlefield but also how his men admired his fairness and generosity–hardly the sort of traits one wound normally associate with a bad actor or strongman.
Bayuni would also learn that Prabowo, like anybody else, is not perfect and is known to occasionally be ill-tempered. Yet this hardly qualifies him as a personality with an ugly streak that would spill over into how he would rule should he come to power.
As the political season nears and more speculation is spread around about the front runners for the 2024 race, journalists like Bayuni will more than likely revert to their past practices of talk about white and black hats. Once again Indonesians will read retreaded stories about Prabowo’s past.
But Indonesians deserve better reporting, and politicians such as Marcos Jr. and Prabowo Subianto deserve to be judged by the facts, not opinions. (James Van Zorge)