Prabowo Subianto Inaugurated As Defense Minister In Today's Memory, October 23, 2019

Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, the political rivals who finally united. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA Memories of today, five years ago, October 23, 2019, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurated Prabowo Subianto as Minister of Defense (Menhan). The incident shocked the entire archipelago because Prabowo was known as the hardline opposition to the Jokowi government.

Previously, Prabowo's defeat in the 2014 presidential election made him become an opposition. All kinds of policies of the Jokowi government that deviated from his criticism. The criticism was conveyed with fire so that the climate of democracy became more colorful.

The 2014 election brought together Jokowi and Prabowo. Each party and the party that supports play an important role. This condition makes all Indonesian people divided into two.

They are supporters of Jokowi and they are Prabowo supporters. Problems arise. Fate actually brought Jokowi to run as President of Indonesia from the 2014-2019 era. Prabowo, who felt cheated, chose an honorable position as opposition.

He acted as supervisor of all kinds of Jokowi's policies. Jokowi's imaging campaign steps were also exhaustive by him. The model campaign is considered negligible. This is because the people do not feel the benefits of the government to make their lives easier.

Prabowo did not waste the opportunity to compete again against Jokowi in the 2019 presidential election. He hopes to beat Jokowi. He felt that the Jokowi government did not bring much prosperity to the people.

Corruption is actually developing everywhere. Strong criticism is played. The style of language is passionate about Prabowo's superiority. However, it was not enough to raise Prabowo's name as president-elect. Again he was defeated by Jokowi.

As a result, Jokowi was appointed President of Indonesia for a period of two. Prabowo had stated that there was fraud in the election. Later Prabowo seemed unable to become an opposition anymore. He felt that he was in opposition to disrupting his space for business and others. The offer to join the government began to be taken seriously.

"Ready if asked. I was asked to help him in the defense sector. So he gave a briefing earlier and I will work as hard as possible to achieve the specified targets and expectations," Prabowo said as quoted by the BBC Indonesia website, October 21, 2019.

Finally, Prabowo was appointed by Jokowi to become Minister of Defense at the Merdeka Palace on October 23, 2019. The appointment was carried out because Prabowo's capacity was deemed complete in the field of national defense. However, Prabowo's decision to join Jokowi gave rise to pros and cons.

Those who counter consider Prabowo inconsistent as the opposition. Prabowo while martializing himself for joining a leader who was once considered to have no great capacity to lead.

Prabowo also considered that the wind was just criticizing him. He realized that the appointment to become the Minister of Defense brought a stir. However, the only thing to think about is trying to get into the position of the Minister of Defense well. Prabowo is aware that the duties of the Minister of Defense are not easy. He hopes that his presence can help the Jokowi government a lot. Regarding the details of the tasks and plans ahead. Prabowo did not want to give an answer.

"I will do my best. Earlier he (Ryamizard) reminded me that the Minister of Defense's task was very heavy, he had to help the President of the Republic of Indonesia, especially in the field of maintaining sovereignty, maintaining territorial integrity and security".

"So I cannot possibly give the right answer. I study and together with the TNI Headquarters with three batches. With staff at the Ministry of Defense, staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the president himself. We will find the best solution," Prabowo said as quoted by the BBC Indonesia website the day after his inauguration, October 24, 2019.