what happened last week in Asia, Africa and the Americas

Hey, this is Sham Jaff, your very own news curator. Each week, I highlight some of the biggest stories from regions and countries that are historically underreported in Western media. My goal is to burst our Western-centric bubbles, and expand the view we hold of the world we share with one another. Questions, comments, concerns? You can reach me anytime by replying to this mail. And if this newsletter was forwarded to you, you can sign up at whathappenedlastweek.com.

Today in the newsletter: Issue #369 is about a controversial man in Indonesian history. His name is Prabowo Subianto. It's not official-official yet, but he might be the country's next president. A lot of the news articles in German media I read missed one important beat in my opinion: How do the families' of his victims feel about his potential election victory?

Who is Prabowo Subianto, the likely-next-president of Indonesia?

What happened
Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's current defense minister, is likely to become president after winning the recent elections.

Why this matters:
Indonesia is a heavyweight on the global stage, being the world’s fourth most populous country with around 274 million residents.

Tell me more
Prabowo Subianto is a known figure; he was a general during Indonesia’s dictatorship that ended in 1998. The current (very popular) president Joko Widodo is particularly fond of him and bypassed age restrictions to install his son as Prabowo's running mate (essentially endorsed him); some are concerned and say that this was harmful to the country's democratic institutions. Experts like Alexander R Arifianto from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, believe Prabowo's presidency won't stray far from Jokowi's playbook, plus keeping Indonesia's non-aligned foreign policy stance between China and the United States unchanged. But there's a bit of worry among activists that under Prabowo's rule, holding folks accountable for past wrongs might get even trickier, with human rights possibly taking a back seat. The Conversation summarized the views of nine academics on seven other crucial issues that are casting a shadow over Prabowo's potential victory.

What "past wrongs"?
Prabowo, once married to the former president Suharto's daughter, held a high-ranking position in the army's special forces for quite a while; the same special forces that kidnapped and tortured 22 political activists in 1998. Prabowo was dismissed from the army after evidence showed he had ordered the kidnappings. He has always denied, however, that he was involved in the disappearances and has never faced charges, although some of his subordinates were convicted. Additionally, he faced a ban from entering the U.S. Moreover, Prabowo has faced accusations of human rights violations in regions like Papua and Timor-Leste, with one notable incident being a massacre in 1983 where hundreds, mainly men, were killed in the Timorese village of Kraras. He has refuted these claims as well. Muhammad Isnur, who heads the Legal Aid Institute Foundation of Indonesia (YLBHI), expressed concern that Prabowo's election could bring added pain to the families of those who vanished in 1998, still seeking answers. "The result is as we predicted. But we are still disappointed," he said.

What do the kidnapped students' families say?
"Mr. Prabowo, if you are going to be the president, please resolve the enforced disappearance cases so that we, the victims’ families, can have peace," Paian Siahaan, 77, told The Associated Press. His son, Munandar Siahaan, was one of the activists who were assaulted by soldiers as Suharto’s authoritarian rule collapsed. Munandar Siahaan and 12 others remain missing.

Btw, it's worth noting (and this is not marginal), according to the Jakarta Post, at least 23 poll workers passed away during and after the February 14 general election, allegedly due to exhaustion. The General Elections Commission (KPU) had intensified efforts to avoid a recurrence of the hundreds of election worker deaths seen in 2019. Around 5 million poll administrators (KPPS) were involved in managing over 800,000 polling stations nationwide during the single-day presidential and legislative elections last week. They were responsible for manually counting the ballots at the polling stations.

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The rest of Issue #369 is updating your knowledge on Kiswahili literature (and why it's important to celebrate it) and the LGBTQ+ rights situation in the Caribbeans (not a very gay-friendly place to visit). Plus, an anti-Sisi song that was released six years ago and still rings true today, feminism in the Tunisian hiphop scene, a South Korean rap band full of grandmas, a Zimbabwean writer's brilliant reading recommendations if you're interested in the people's perspective on migration, and a cheeky Delhi police Instagram post. Plus, so much more.

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what happened last week - Indonesia's next president is...

what happened last week in Asia, Africa and the Americas

Who is Prabowo Subianto, the likely-next-president of Indonesia?

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