Chinese-Indonesian group backs Prabowo as austerity drive bites

Indonesia was rocked by student protests last week over President Prabowo Subianto’s education budget cuts

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An anti-government ‘Dark Indonesia’ protest near the presidential palace in Jakarta on February 21. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:00am, 27 Feb 2025Updated: 11:36am, 27 Feb 2025

As President Prabowo Subianto continues to feel pressure from the students-led “Dark Indonesia” protest movement over his austerity measures, he has received unexpected support from a major organisation representing the country’s ethnic Chinese minority.

Formed after the fall of Suharto in 1998, the Indonesian Chinese Clans Social Association (PSMTI) represents hundreds of thousands of Chinese-Indonesians.

At the organisation’s Lunar New Year event in Surabaya on Sunday, its National Honorary Board Chairman Teguh Kinarto urged members to support Prabowo’s vision for a “Golden Indonesia,” a reference to his plan to transform the nation into a developed economy by 2045.

At the same event, real estate tycoon Paulus Totok Lusida, PSMTI East Java’s advisory board chairman, said despite the mounting economic challenges faced by Indonesia, “Chinese-Indonesians must be at the vanguard at keeping the nation’s peace”.

Made Supriatma, a political scientist and fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said Prabowo’s support among Chinese-Indonesians was an “interesting turn of events”, given the president’s involvement in the suppression of student protests in the 1998 riots.

He said that former president Joko Widodo, who defeated Prabowo in the 2014 and 2019 elections, “garnered almost total support from Chinese-Indonesians then because of their past trauma with Prabowo over the 1998 allegations”.