‘We seem to be going nowhere’: Indonesian president is losing his people
Prabowo Subianto’s government is in the doldrums with political scandal, rampant inflation and wildfires shredding the former general turned leader’s approval ratings.
The haze has spread hundreds of kilometres across national borders to Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, raising fears of a regional health crisis. And for millions of Indonesians, particularly in Borneo and Sumatra, it has compounded cost-of-living woes by making fresh air a luxury.
This is not what voters like Rama and Kurniawan had expected. They had believed that Prabowo, a feared former general with a dark past, had the discipline to secure Indonesia’s economic future and the will to deal with endemic problems like wildfires.
“We had high hopes that his government would operate efficiently under one command,” said Kurniawan, 35, who lives in Central Kalimantan province. “I am very, very disappointed.”
Disenchantment among Prabowo’s base has caused his approval rating to collapse. One survey said it dropped from 81.2 per cent in November 2025 to 44.5 per cent last month, a shockingly low level in a country where people typically do not criticise their leader in public.
