Indonesia’s former defence minister, Prabowo Subianto on Sunday took oath as the eighth President of Indonesia along with Gibran Rakabuming, son of former President Joko Widodo who was elected Vice President of the country.
Prabowo, 73, and Gibran, 37, took their oaths of office at around 10:30 a.m. local time during an inauguration held at the Nusantara Building in the Senayan legislative complex in the capital city Jakarata.
Dignitaries from 33 countries, including India were present at the swearing-in ceremony, Antara news agency reported.
India was represented by Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita.
This year is significant as both countries celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations and mark a decade of India’s ‘Act East’ policy, of which Indonesia is an important pillar.
The External Affairs Ministry stated that Margherita’s participation in the inauguration ceremony reaffirms India’s commitment to further strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and Indonesia.
Prabowo won the Presidential elections with a margin of 59 per cent votes in the polls held on February 14 earlier this year
He is popular amongst the young voters of the country and has gained their support through his active campaign on social media platforms. During his campaign rallies earlier this year, Prabowo and Gibran promised to continue the policies Joko Widido.
Subianto, was the Defence Minister in former President Widodo’s government, brings with him the experience of serving both the political and military scene of the country.
During the Presidential Election in Indonesia, citizens get to vote for their President and Vice President directly. These occur every five years and according to the country’s laws, the same person cannot be elected into power for more than two terms.
The outgoing President Joko Widodo, who had been in power since 2014, saw the implementation of policies and significant advances in infrastructure development, healthcare and the education sector. Under his presidency, Indonesia also hosted a successful G20 summit, which saw global consensus to de-escalate the violence taking place in Russia and Ukraine.
However, Indonesia is currently facing issues such as climate change, which has led the country to develop and start plans to shift to a new capital, Nusantara.
Subianto will have to take up these issues as he comes into power and act upon the public consensus towards Widodo’s policy measures.