Indonesia chooses its president, between current head of state Joko Widodo and a controversial former military figure with close ties to the Suharto dictatorship.
Indonesia's voters were called to the polls today, Wednesday 17 April, to elect a new president. Vying for the position are incumbent head of state Joko Widodo and a former general with a controversial past, Prabowo Subianto, who is promising to lead the country with a firmer hand.
This is, in effect, a rerun of the previous election: in 2014, Widodo – known at home by the nickname Jokowi – managed to win by a whisker. At the time, he presented himself as a political outsider, and succeeded in breaking the grip on power held by the great families of the Indonesian elite, who had once been close to the dictator Suharto.
What resonated most with voters was above all Widodo's personal story. The son of a carpenter, he spent his childhood in a bamboo hut, in surroundings far removed from those of the wealthy local power brokers. He began working as a furniture salesman, then managed to set up an import-export company, through which he started to gain his first public recognition.
His political debut came in 2005, when Widodo managed to get himself elected mayor of his home city, Solo. In 2012, he became governor of Jakarta: this was the springboard that would take him to the presidency two years later. Throughout his term, Indonesia's current president has tried in every way to strengthen his popularity, regularly making himself visible on the ground and pursuing policies of redistribution and infrastructure development.
Roads, airports, railways: over the past five years the 17,000 islands that make up the archipelago have been swept by a massive wave of construction projects. That said, the record from the perspective of human rights has disappointed many. Widodo has not managed to stem the proliferation of cases of intolerance towards religious minorities and the LGBT community.
Cases of activist arrests have also been recorded. And laws have been passed that make it difficult to form mass organisations, as well as regulations that restrict freedom of expression online.
These are choices that, should Subianto win, are very likely to be tightened further. The former military man, now 67, has repeatedly attempted over the past 15 years to reach power. He has, however, been held back by his ties to the Suharto regime. Born into a wealthy, well-educated family, Subianto is accused of having ordered the abduction of democratic activists in the final years of the dictatorship.
Non-governmental organisations also accuse him of having committed human rights violations in East Timor, during the region's struggle for independence, which was suppressed by the very special forces he commanded. According to some, Subianto was also behind the attempted coup that took place in 1998, shortly after Suharto's death. At the time, he was forced to leave the army and spend several years in exile in Jordan.
During the recent election campaign, according to reports by the AFP news agency, the candidate drew closer to some of the more radical Islamic groups. He also launched into populist nationalist speeches, pointing the finger at Chinese investment in Indonesia. It should be noted, however, that Widodo too chose to run with Ma'ruf Amin as his vice-presidential candidate, aged 76: a conservative Muslim cleric.
It is partly for this reason that in Indonesia in recent weeks the "Saya Golput" movement has grown, urging citizens not to go to the polls. The 800,000 polling stations opened at 7 in the morning (late Tuesday evening in Europe), to receive the 193 million eligible voters. Who also cast their ballots in the legislative elections: these will result in the election, in various capacities, of no fewer than 20,000 people. The electoral commission will announce the official results of the elections only in May, although the first estimates are expected to be released during the course of the day.
