Prabowo Subianto's Victory in 2024 Presidential Election Benefits Singapore-Indonesia Relations: Singapore Ministry of Defense.

Verda Nano Setiawan, CNBC Indonesia

Sunday, 02/18/2024 17:45 IWST

Photo: Singapore Air Force Chinook helicopters accompanied by Apache helicopters parade with the Singaporean flag to mark the country’s 57th National Day, in Singapore, Tuesday (9/8/2022). (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The victory of Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidate (Paslon) number 2, Prabowo Subianto – Gibran Rakabuming Raka in the 2024 presidential election is said to be beneficial for Singapore-Indonesia relations.

As is known, a week before starting his campaign, Prabowo was in Singapore to receive the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera) award from the Singapore Government.

In a statement, the Singapore government has highlighted how the Defense Cooperation Agreement, an important document that strengthens security ties between the two countries, is under Prabowo’s leadership.

“The 2022 agreement that Pak Prabowo assisted represents an important milestone in bilateral defense relations,” said the Singapore Ministry of Defense, quoted by the Straits Times on Sunday (18/2/2024).

Singapore’s Ministry of Defense added that Prabowo had made a significant contribution to strengthening the close and long-standing bilateral defense relations between Indonesia and Singapore, as well as encouraging closer collaboration.

“Such examples show how familiar Mr Prabowo is with Singapore, and how this bodes well for relations between the two countries,” analysts told The Straits Times.

Prabowo is expected to win the 2024 election by a large margin. Meanwhile, based on data from vote counting results or the real count for the 2024 Presidential Election, the KPU around 66.6% of the votes have been counted.

Final results are not expected until March, but initial indications suggest that the former general will replace President Joko Widodo.

Photo: Presidential candidate number 02, Prabowo Subianto while visiting the grave of Habib Ali bin Abdurrahman Al-Habsyi at the Al Riyadh Mosque, Kwitang, Jakarta, Friday (16/2/2024). (CNBC Indonesia/Faisal Rahman)
Presidential candidate number 02, Prabowo Subianto while visiting the grave of Habib Ali bin Abdurrahman Al-Habsyi at the Al Riyadh Mosque, Kwitang, Jakarta, Friday (16/2/2024). (CNBC Indonesia/Faisal Rahman)

Prabowo, who has served as Minister of Defense since 2019, leads with 57.9 percent of the vote, twice as many as his closest rival.

In an Instagram post, less than 24 hours after he declared himself Indonesia’s next president, he said he had received calls from world leaders offering their congratulations. One of them was Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Prabowo is no stranger to Singapore, considering that he often visits the country and interacts with the country’s leaders. Prabowo also participated in the two most recent editions of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-level defense meeting held in Singapore.

“He has long experience dealing with Singapore’s leaders and its people, and he will likely continue defense cooperation,” said Dr Irman G. Lanti of Padjadjaran University in Indonesia.

“As president, Pak Prabowo will continue to encourage closer collaboration between the two defense institutions,” said Associate Professor Leonard Sebastian from the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

Dr Mustafa Izzuddin, senior international relations analyst at policy and business consultancy Solaris Strategies Singapore assesses that the areas of collaboration between Singapore and Indonesia under Prabowo’s presidency will not only be limited to defense but will expand to other areas.

He said that the Prabowo government is expected to emphasize policy continuity in the areas of trade and investment, which will benefit Singapore. Considering that Singapore is Indonesia’s main investor and trading partner.

In 2022, Indonesia is the largest source of visitors to Singapore, with around 1.1 million people accounting for 17.4 percent of total arrivals.

Singapore has been the largest foreign investor in Indonesia since 2014, with total investment reaching US$ 17.5 billion in 2022. In 2022, Singapore is Indonesia’s fourth largest trading partner, and Indonesia is Singapore’s sixth largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reached US$ 74.6 billion.

The “healthy mandate” Prabowo received also reflects the future of the two countries, added Dr Mustafa, who is also a visiting professor of international relations at the Islamic University of Indonesia.

“We hope for political stability, which is important for Singapore because it is Indonesia’s main investor and trading partner,” he said.

Analysts predict that Prabowo will continue to make foreign policy Indonesia’s main focus as Indonesia increases its influence on global issues and establishes itself as a middle power.

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