Indonesia’s recently sworn in President Prabowo Subianto is many things. To millions of young Indonesians, he is a daggy dancer on TikTok. But to a cohort of voters with longer memories, he is a veteran of a brutal and oppressive military force.

Today, principal fellow of the Indo-Pacific Research Centre at Murdoch University Jacqui Baker charts Prabowo Subianto’s extraordinary climb to the presidency and what it means for Indonesia’s fragile democracy. 

Please enjoy “Forcing History”, read by Jacqui Baker and first published in the Australian Foreign Affairs October issue.

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Guest: Principal fellow of the Indo-Pacific Research Centre at Murdoch University Jacqui Baker

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