Jakarta, IO — Political observer Igor Dirgantara assesses that the outright victory of presidential pair Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka in the 2024 presidential election is proof that Indonesia’s democratic process has been running well.
According to Igor, this is because Prabowo, who lost the presidential elections twice in 2014 and 2019, remains loyal and consistent and is charting his way to the top job through democratic path by taking part in the election.
“Finally, in the 2024 presidential election Prabowo can reap the fruits of his struggle. Exhausting, but fruitful on the constitutional path. This means Prabowo is now the Man of the Moment who was democratically elected by the people as the president for the 2024-2029 term,” explained Igor, Wednesday (13/3).
Igor also highlighted Prabowo’s statement after winning the 2024 presidential election that the process of implementing democracy in Indonesia has been indeed arduous and costly, but this has to be carried out and the quality needs to be further improved.
“Prabowo understands that democracy in Indonesia is very expensive. Therefore, Indonesia really needs strong and firm leadership after Jokowi’s leadership to return democracy to the hands of the people, not to the hands of investors or business oligarchs,” said Igor.
Igor said he was not worried about Prabowo-Gibran’s leadership in the future because Prabowo himself understands the need for checks and balances as a national figure who had been outside the government for years.
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“This is an important factor why Prabowo will be willing to hear criticism and be able to appreciate the opposition’s views when he becomes Indonesia’s new leader,” he added.
Igor predicts that Indonesian democracy in the future will be much better under Prabowo-Gibran’s leadership because both of them have proven to have gone through a genuine democratic process, rather than relying on grandstanding and false populism.
“Prabowo is a good example of how to build a party from scratch, not a ‘hitchhiker’, not a party official, let alone a party worker. Prabowo knows that the most important pillar of democracy is political parties,” he said.