The ‘Hunger Games’ election and intergenerational trauma

February 22, 2024

JAKARTA – Days before the Feb 14 election, I already felt extremely tense and anxious about the prospect of presidential candidate No. 2 Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka winning. Early this month, a survey conducted by Indikator Politik Indonesia projected that the former general and the 36-year-old incumbent President’s son would win over 50 percent of the vote in a single round of voting.

On Feb. 14, when in the afternoon this became a reality, indeed, a nightmare, I sank into a deep depression. I shared my feelings with a few friends, including a Western European ambassador who blithely responded, “Don’t be sad. It’s democracy”.

Given the rawness of my emotions, that was all the trigger I needed. “Your comment is masculinist-patriarchal, condescending-patronizing, superficial-simplistic and indicates you don’t have much knowledge about Indonesian democracy, even after almost X years here!”, I lashed out at him on WhatsApp.

Perhaps I was a bit harsh – sorry Mr. Ambassador! – maybe I should have been more diplomatic.

At the same time, I think my reaction was understandable. I lived for 32 years under the authoritarian New Order (1966-1998), and 25 years in the Reform Era (1998-). The fact that all the struggle and blood-sweat-and-tears sacrifices that I and so many others have made to democratize Indonesia, were knocked down like a house of cards, was devastating. Serving Indonesia had always been my raison d être, and to have my efforts, idealism and hopes, trivialized this way, instantly brought out my fangs.

The media has been replete with analysis about why a Prabowo presidency could mean a serious setback for Indonesian democracy, which has already been in decline for