Indonesia’s new leader takes tougher tone as he takes power – BNN Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Indonesia’s new leader Prabowo Subianto endeared himself to voters as a kind grandfather who promised to provide free meals to schoolchildren. To get things moving in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, the president is signaling a strongman approach.

The former general used his maiden speech Sunday to rail against corruption and poverty, a stark departure from his mild-mannered predecessor Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi. And as Prabowo led lawmakers in parliament to chant the Indonesian word for independence, he said: “Those who do not shout merdeka are not patriotic.”

This shows his leadership style as an ex-Special Forces commando who is not afraid to call on allies and is unlikely to tolerate dissent or criticism. Prabowo has set an ambitious 8% growth target for Indonesia over the next two to three years, which means turning around the manufacturing sector, fighting corruption and raising incomes in the world’s fourth most populous country.

“He is clearly learning from the early years of Jokowi’s first term, when he didn’t get much done because he was a ‘minority president,’” said Douglas Ramage, managing director of BowerGroupAsia Indonesia, a strategic consultancy. “Prabowo’s focus at this stage is much more on political inclusivity.”

So far, markets are optimistic about the sense of continuity as Prabowo stacked his cabinet with several ministers from the previous government. The Indonesian rupiah rose 0.2% to 15,435 per dollar in early trading on Monday, extending gains to a fourth day. The benchmark stock index rose a seventh day, the longest stretch in more than two years.

Here’s what to expect in Indonesia in the early days of Prabowo’s presidency:

Control by Parliament

Prabowo is seeking full control of parliament, a feat not achieved since the fall of his former father-in-law, dictator Suharto. The missing piece is the largest party in parliament led by former president Megawati Sukarnoputri.

She did not attend Prabowo’s inauguration due to illness and has not yet met the new president, even though his allies re-elected her daughter Puan Maharani as the powerful speaker of parliament.

Even without Megawati’s public support, Prabowo has the support of the majority in parliament and can push through bills. The question is how Prabowo will respond to any popular opposition to his policies, given that he faced accusations of human rights abuses during his time as a soldier in the dark days of the Suharto regime. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Corruption fight

Prabowo acknowledged that corruption was widespread among businessmen and politicians and within local and central governments, saying it kept millions of Indonesians in poverty. About 9% of the more than 280 million inhabitants still live below the poverty line.

Indonesia’s record in governance has weakened during Widodo’s time. The country ranked 115th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s corruption perception index last year, falling several rungs since the former leader came to power in 2014.

Critics say Indonesia’s decline is partly due to Widodo taking the anti-corruption watchdog known as the KPK under his wing. They say Prabowo should make the KPK an independent agency if he wants to take the fight against corruption seriously.

Foreign policy

Indonesia will remain “friends with everyone,” Prabowo said at his inauguration, which was attended by US representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng.

Prabowo, who speaks several languages ​​including French and German and is more comfortable on the world stage than Widodo, will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru next month and the Group of 20 summit immediately afterward. Brazil. He is likely to push for more investment from Beijing while maintaining security ties with Washington.

He also reiterated that Indonesia supported the Palestinian struggle for independence. “We are anti-oppression because we are oppressed,” he said.

Food security

The ex-special forces commander wants to reduce Indonesia’s dependence on food supplies from other countries amid heightened global tensions and weather uncertainties. One key reason: Its free meals program for schoolchildren will require billions of dollars in food when it starts next year, and Indonesia remains a major importer of staples like sugar, rice and beef.

Prabowo wants Indonesia to achieve food self-sufficiency within four to five years. “We are even ready to become the food basket of the world,” he said.

Economists say this is a far-fetched goal as farmlands are shrinking and even fewer Indonesians want to harvest crops. Next year, Prabowo has allocated a food security budget of about $8 billion, including building storage facilities and carving out more rice fields. He also created a new coordinating ministry for food affairs, to be headed by Zulkifli Hasan, a former trade minister.

Downstream push

Prabowo reiterated his plans to expand downstream business – tapping into Indonesia’s mineral resources to secure investment in industrial development – ​​to cover more commodities than just nickel. He said the policy will help achieve self-sufficiency and create more jobs.

The new leader also wants to include other commodities such as sugar and palm oil, Bloomberg previously reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Former diplomat Rosan Perkasa Roeslani, recently appointed Minister of Investments and Downstreaming, will lead Prabowo’s agenda. There has also been speculation that Prabowo’s brother and close advisor, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, could take a position behind the scenes to support the effort. However, it will be difficult for Indonesia to conduct a downstream campaign for all raw materials, especially for those countries where the country is not nearly as dominant as it is in nickel.

–With help from Norman Harsono, Soraya Permatasari and Prima Wirayani.

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