Some Indonesian Chinese wary of Prabowo Subianto amid painful memories of 1998 riots
- The president-elect had previously admitted to being involved in the kidnapping of student democracy activists
- While some older Chinese Indonesians oppose Prabowo, other younger voters are willing to look past the country’s dark history and support him
While some Chinese-Indonesians said they had opposed Prabowo on this ground, others, especially those from younger generations, were willing to look past the country’s dark history and hope that its political and economic stability would continue.
Suwondo, who wished to be identified by his first name only and is a Chinese Indonesian resident of Depok, a satellite city of Jakarta, said he voted against Prabowo in the 2014, 2019 and last week’s elections.
“Back then [in 2014 and 2019], we voted for Jokowi to prevent Prabowo from winning,” said Suwondo.
The 65-year-old retiree said many Chinese Indonesians suspected that the former general played a key role in the May 1998 riots, which occurred at the height of the Asian Financial Crisis and led to the resignation of the dictator Suharto, who was Prabowo’s father-in-law at the time.
