51吃瓜

Winning a presidential election involves a whole lot more than just grit and pure charisma in today鈥檚 political landscape.

Decked in a light blue checkered dress shirt and jeans, Prabowo Subianto waltzes across the stage, performing an awkward jig in front of a jubilant crowd. This was the of Indonesia鈥檚 current President upon claiming his victory in the 2024 presidential election 鈥� a performance synonymous with his as a 鈥渃uddly grandpa鈥�.

Prabowo is lauded by his younger Generation Z (Gen Z) and millennial supporters as 鈥�gemoy鈥� and 鈥�gemes鈥�, meaning overcome with cuteness, as seen in circulated . This stands diametrically opposed to his formerly contentious, Machiavellian image 鈥� one smeared by a dark and bloody .

Prabowo: a 鈥減olitical chameleon鈥�

Prabowo鈥檚 political career is marred by human rights abuse , with links to Suharto鈥檚 military dictatorship and massacres during Indonesia鈥檚 occupation of Timor-Leste (1975-99). from entering the US as late as 2012, Prabowo鈥檚 political path began tumultuously. After losing several presidential cycles, he even filed a lawsuit 鈥� albeit an unsuccessful one 鈥� alleging election fraud when he lost the to Joko 鈥淛okowi鈥� Widodo, the Indonesian politician and businessman who served as Indonesia鈥檚 seventh president from 2014 to 2024.

However, Prabowo鈥檚 longtime political resilience built him an army of supporters. The results of the 2024 presidential election showed that Prabowo of the vote, a testament to the seismic political shift and recalibrated strategy adopted by the Prabowo-Gibran campaign.

But it is not his resilience that changed the game. It is a result of a deliberately curated marketing ploy. A convergence between being a 鈥溾�� and strategic incremental decisions, leveraging both to fulfill an overarching goal: to achieve slide-rule authoritarianism. The 鈥溾�� movement reflects the reactionary response to the administration’s and revised .

Prabowo鈥檚 2019 campaign: the Islamic populist strategy

Much like the Trump administration, Prabowo is unafraid to engage with divisive and controversial . Whereas US President Donald Trump鈥檚 appeal relies on his cult of personality 鈥� possessing presidential charisma bordering on self-caricature 鈥� which resonates with a vital fraction of the American electorate, Prabowo takes on a contrarian approach by necessity.

Unlike the demographic in the US, Indonesia鈥檚 population consists predominantly of Javanese . Prabowo鈥檚 strategic foregrounding and cultivation of a pious Muslim image expose the importance of having a cohesive political identity, one that aligns with the greater part of the electorate.

His 2019 presidential campaign is a testament to Prabowo鈥檚 overt engagement with . At the end of his official national at the Jakarta Convention Centre, titled Indonesia Menang (Indonesia鈥檚 Victory), he constructed the image of himself and his close proximity to Islam:

鈥�As a proud son of the nation and of Islam, allow me to proclaim the takbir, 鈥楢llahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Independence! Independence!鈥�

Islam became the vehicle in which he performed religious authenticity, a crucible for populist rhetoric, to stitch himself within the social fabric of the Indonesian electorate.

However, the Islamic populist strategy belies his true intentions. The U-turn in Prabowo鈥檚 2024 presidential campaign strategy marks a crucial inflection point in his political career. The president鈥檚 decreased engagement with Islamic political rhetoric, in comparison to the 2019 election cycle and earlier years, is not a sign of a shift toward progressive values. It is a shift aimed at broadly appealing to ; it is a means to an end.

The power of political marketing: Prabowo鈥檚 reformed image

This phenomenon has a direct consequence and correspondence with the increase in online pandering and deliberate curation of his new image. In other words, Prabowo鈥檚 reformed image and accumulated years of Islamic populist strategy boil down to the very core of predatory populism: molding his identity to the prevailing sentiments of mainstream consciousness.

The key differentiator of the 2024 presidential election cycle is that Prabowo has an excellent marketing team backing him up.

The clearest example is turning around a losing debate against his political rivals. The between him and the other two political candidates, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, became one of the pivotal moments of the . These videos 鈥� carefully edited clips 鈥� were disseminated through his party鈥檚 channels. In doing so, he raptured the hearts of voters as well as capitalized on its virality.

In a bid for strategic self-victimization, Prabowo, or rather his marketing team, successfully reframed what would have been a lackluster performance into craftily manipulated propaganda against his rivals.

An AI-generated image of a , portraying infantilized cartoon versions of Prabowo and Gibran, presents the perfect analogy: the idea is to soften his reputation and lodge himself within a digestible narrative. Another instance is a fake, also AI-generated video of Suharto circulated by Prabowo鈥檚 party, endorsing his presidency, which amassed as high as 4.5 million .

Therein lies the core of his newly founded magnetism: an orchestrated reinvention that navigates between algorithmic reach and performative authenticity; the importance of image management has superseded actual engagement with public policy.

It is not Prabowo鈥檚 charisma nor his resilience that allowed him to clinch the top spot, but a structured marketing strategy that can easily be emulated. Prabowo鈥檚 successful campaign would not be a blip in the political arena, but the bellwether for Indonesia鈥檚 future voting behavior.

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The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.