Prabowo followed Marcos' election playbook, for better or worse

Indonesians now must wait to see if next president takes authoritarian path

Richard Heydarian

March 15, 2024 17:00 JST

For his 2022 presidential election campaign, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s PR team portrayed him as a youthful "cool uncle" who would bring unity to a divided nation. © Reuters

Richard Heydarian is a senior lecturer at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines and author of "The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China and the New Struggle for Global Mastery."

Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto's apparent sweeping victory in last month's presidential election bears an uncanny resemblance to Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s win in the Philippines two years ago.