Republic Day 2025 Chief Guest: Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations this year, making him the fourth Indonesian leader to be given this honour.
After arriving in New Delhi on Thursday (January 23), he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday as India and Indonesia look to strengthen their political, defence and security cooperation.
Here are 10 things to know about the Indonesian President.
- 01
A political blue blood
Prabowo comes from an elite political family. His father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, was one of Indonesia’s most prominent economists, and among the few people who served in the cabinets of both Presidents Sukarno and Suharto.
- 02
Went to military school in the US
Prabowo studied at the American School in London, and attended military courses in the US, including at Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning), one of the most historic military schools in the US.
- 03
Was married to Suharto’s daughter
In 1983, Prabowo married former President Suharto’s daughter Siti Hediati Hariyadi. The couple separated soon after Suharto was ousted in 1998. They have one son.
- 04
Accused of human rights abuses
Prabowo, who was a three-star lieutenant general before being dismissed from the military also in 1998, has been accused of involvement in the kidnapping of student activists and rights abuses in Papua and East Timor. In 2024, however, Jokowi Widodo, the outgoing president, gave him the honorary rank of four-star general.
- 05
Banned from entering the US
Due to the allegations of human rights abuses, there was previously a de facto ban on Prabowo’s entry to the United States. The allegations against him, however, are unproven, and Prabowo has always denied any responsibility.
- 06
Attempting an image transformation
Prabowo, 73, now portrays a completely different image — he is often seen on social media doing viral dance moves, and posing with his cat, Bobby. His new image paints a stark contrast to his past reputation as a fiery nationalist, who for a while was in self-imposed exile in Jordan.
- 07
Got international attention at the Shangri-La Dialogue
Prabowo, at the time the Defence Minister under then President Jokowi Widodo, caught everyone’s attention at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last June. He spoke about Indonesian peacekeepers going into Gaza, and proposed a UN referendum on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as a demilitarized zone between the two countries.
The Shangri-La Dialogue is an inter-governmental security conference held annually in Singapore by the Bahraini-funded think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
- 08
Seemingly made concessions to China
Prabowo is seen to have made concessions on the South China Sea issue in September 2024. A China-Indonesia joint statement in English agreed to jointly develop “areas of overlapping claims”. This implied a shift in Indonesia’s previous stance to one that recognised China’s nine-dash line.
However, shortly thereafter, Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in Indonesian, clarifying that the joint statement does not imply Indonesia’s recognition of the nine-dash line.
- 09
Likely to be pals with Donald Trump
Prabowo is likely to maintain a good relationship with the newly-elected US President Donald Trump. When Trump won the US presidency, Prabowo was one of the first world leaders to call and congratulate him, addressing him as “sir”. Trump, in turn, was delighted and bestowed high praise on Prabowo’s capabilities. When Trump complimented his English, Prabowo reportedly replied, “All my training is American, sir.”
That said, Prabowo is expected to continue with a non-aligned policy that avoids taking sides in the US-China rivalry.
- 10
Indonesia becomes full member of BRICS under Prabowo
Prabowo recently announced that Indonesia is now officially a full member of BRICS, expressing a desire to serve as a “bridge between developed and developing nations” .
