As President Prabowo takes the stage, will Indonesia get a strongman or legacy keeper?

The central question now is whether the 72-year-old will maintain the policies established by his predecessor or chart a new course for the Southeast Asian nation.

But the retired army general is also a seasoned political heavyweight in his own right, with a 50-year career spanning military service, to founding his own political party and entering public office. Analysts suggest his strongman image also resonated with voters.

After years of striving for the top position, and his rivalry with Widodo, he may view the presidency as a long-awaited “earned right”, according to Alexander Arifianto, a senior fellow and Indonesia programme coordinator at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.