This warlord warrior is the man who loads the gun for others, and his never surrender is for them, not the coward that ran, when last called to account for war crimes!
Attack who? Us?
How can decent Indonesians be so gullible, and or writers like this Author see anything at all palatable or appealing in this gutless poser!
What Indonesia needs is a real strongman and an economic literate, like the winner!
And one with a proud record of already facing and defeating corruption.
That's the sort of quiet indefatigable courage Indonesia needs now!
Not the ebullient bully boy Sabre rattling of a former runaway General/puppet in the hands of the rich and powerful who back him, and would rule through him!?
Corruption fighter personified is hardly a weak man, but rather an iron hand, albeit one held inside a velvet glove! So what if he sold furniture?
[What did the General do before he joined the military? Swill pigs?]
No wonder so many of the rich and powerful, want to see the back of him!
And the former furniture salesman (man of the people) should stay, if only to say to the world.
Indonesian elections will be decided by the people, not the rich and powerful, or corrupt war criminals/power hungry, sabre rattling psychopaths, only posing as reasonable people, who are actually even capable of putting ordinary Indonesians and Indonesia first!?
Rhrosty.

Is it not axiomatic that Indonesia cannot exist without its Javanese generals running the place?

And anyway Indonesian-Australian relations have been way too unexciting since those boats (in theory) were stopped. The Indon-Aus political rift triggered by the Guardian-Snowden regurgitations are now also a faint pong.

All this is a bit of a Joko if not so serious.

So where does this leave the Jocks and Bimbos of Bali?

Pete

This is an excellent article that anticipates possible future problems with ex-General Prabowo Subianto and the interests-people around him.

If President elect Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is appearing to be weak national leadership material then this (as the author suggests) may present a power vacuum that Prabowo Subianto could increasingly easily and plausibly fill.

The Indonesian political process since 1949 is not so stable or established as to rule out extra-legal tactics (mob and/or military force and bribe money) that Prabowo Subianto could utilise to take over.

Joko Widodo (Jokowi) needs to secure extensive and widely recognised military and financial backing to claim and maintain his position and keep Indonesia stable.

Thanks for your comments. For an update see: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/even-north-korea-doesnt-happen-prabowo-day-court/
There doesn't seem to be video available, though the former general was on TV news last night giving a forceful performance that should have dissenting judges quaking if the majority agree to his reasoning and reverse the election result. One even had the temerity to point out his spelling errors.

Hi Duncan Graham

Thanks for your article and the Jakarta Globe update http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/even-north-korea-doesnt-happen-prabowo-day-court/

The Suharto martial spirit has clearly not escaped Prabowo Subianto. In the Jakarta Globe update “We are hurt by the violations and injustice carried out by the election organizer,”

It looks like Prabowo Subianto is already using the Royal "we" as befits a Head of State born to rule.

With a modest tone..."Prabowo told the court to conduct revotes... He also claimed that voters were intimidated..." Though not yet intimidated be him or his minders in those particular cases :)

Here's a Youtube (in Bahasa) http://youtu.be/wTaiVseP86I of Prabowo Subianto in Court today. He becomes very insistent from 1 minute 40 seconds onwards.

A dramatic news story is http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/07/lawsuit-errors-vex-mk-justices.html .

All this should be getting more coverage in the Australian press than Gaza, at least.

Regards

Pete

Prabowo can rant all he can like a sore loser making proposterous Homer Simpson-like statements, but fewer and fewer people in Indonesia are taking him seriously as his statements became more and more erratic and pitable.

I see little chance of him succeeding in his appeal to Constitutional Court, due to his very weak and amateurish 'arguments' (all his appeal documents are uploaded online in the Constitutional Court website). Recent survey shows 93% of Indonesians believe there was a free and fair elections and just want the whole process to be completed ASAP.

Some of his political allies are still following his erratic moves due to his monetary largesse, since he paid well for loyalty. They will suck him as dry as possible, but they won't do anything stupid that would cause severe bite-back for them. President SBY, the military, Election Commission (KPU), and Constitutional Court (MK) have shown their impartiality out of fear of pro-Jokowi public anger. They all have congratulated Jokowi as president-elect.

Basically, nobody want to sacrifice themselves for Prabowo.