Jokowi’s Olive Branch to Top Indonesia Rival Risks Backfiring
- President gambles on ‘maverick’ Suharto-era general in defense
- Jokowi is seeking to broaden coalition to boost reform drive
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Indonesian President Joko Widodo, already facing public anger over a string of controversial policies, drafted Prabowo Subianto into his cabinet as he looks to his long-term rival to now be a bulwark against a further backlash over his second-term agenda.
Prabowo, who up until a few months ago was locked in a tense battle for the presidency with Jokowi, as Widodo is known, was appointed defense minister Wednesday. Bringing Prabowo into the cabinet as the leader of Gerindra -- the third biggest party in the Indonesian parliament -- offers Jokowi a path to push through reforms he sees as crucial to bolstering an economy growing at its slowest pace in two years.