In Indonesia, Jokowi mulls whether to sideline opponents or build a broad coalition with electoral foe Prabowo
- President Joko Widodo is set to reveal a new cabinet as he begins a second term at the helm of Southeast Asia’s largest economy
- But with just days before his inauguration, political machinations continue over whether his government can accommodate key opposition politicians after a bitterly fought election
The president’s parliamentary alliance, led by his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), controls 349 seats in the 575-seat legislature, or 60.69 per cent. Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, will be inaugurated on October 20 for a second term at the helm of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
A source inside the coalition said Jokowi was keen to have Prabowo, who lost in a bitterly fought election in April, join his government to strengthen the administration’s nationalist credentials.
The former general, who won 44.5 per cent of the vote, was staunchly supported at the polls by Islamist groups seeking to turn the country into a caliphate. Prabowo has never backed the formation of an Islamic state, and has always taken pains to point out he is a nationalist who hails from a half-Christian family, but having Islamists campaigning for him unsettled many nationalists.
