Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto most qualified to become president, brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo says
- Hashim Djojohadikusumo says that compared to Prabowo’s rivals in the presidential race, his brother has vast experience and an extensive network
- Current President Joko Widodo is likely to back Prabowo in February’s race, Hashim adds, pointing to signals from Widodo’s camp
Indonesian tycoon Hashim Djojohadikusumo is his politician brother Prabowo Subianto’s most loyal supporter – and he is not ashamed to make that known to the world.
As the nomination period for the country’s February presidential poll nears, Prabowo, Indonesia’s defence minister and a former commander of its special forces, is dominating surveys that put him as a front runner to succeed the nation’s incumbent leader Joko Widodo.
In a likely three-way race involving Prabowo, former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo, 54, and Anies Baswedan, 54, the former Jakarta governor currently aligned with the opposition, whoever gets the nod of approval from the highly popular Widodo is seen as very likely to be the winner.
In an interview this week, Hashim underscored his view that his brother, 71, was the most qualified of the trio to lead Southeast Asia’s sole G20 economy, given his extensive experience and network of connections.
“He is the only [one] of the three big contenders who has the international experience, the military experience and the diplomatic experience. The other two do not,” Hashim said in the interview on the sidelines of Monday’s Hong Kong-Asean Summit.
Asked to describe his famously pugnacious brother in three words, Hashim replied after some thought: “Visionary, honest, less temperamental”.
The brothers are scions of one of Indonesia’s major political families and younger sibling Hashim, 69, with an estimated net worth of well over US$600 million, has long been known for financing the Gerindra Party that they co-founded.
