The Price of Prabowo's Consolidation

In the future, when the prices of basic necessities rise, the rupiah falters, or flagship programs stumble in the field, the public’s gaze will shift directly to the President himself.

Centralized power in a single figure is indeed difficult to undermine from the inside. However, it is easily eroded from the outside: by the streets, by the market, and by elites adept at reading the wind direction.

Those who today gravitate toward this new center of gravity move with a simple logic. The same logic that could later drive them away again.

The first test of that strength is now at hand. Article 8, paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that if the Vice President's position is vacant, the MPR must convene within 60 days to elect one of the two candidates proposed by the President.

The two names proposed by Prabowo will answer this article’s questions more honestly than any analysis.

If he chooses someone of capacity who can balance the coalition, we are witnessing a confident strength.

If the choice solely falls on a loyalist, we are observing a nervous power seeking to ensure that no other eyes and ears reside within the Palace.

Back in April, before his team, Prabowo asserted that this nation chose to govern democratically, placing sovereignty in the hands of the people.

That statement now faces its test. Democracy does not only function through layered impeachment mechanisms.

It also operates through daily public assessment in markets, on social media, and at family dinner tables.

Prabowo is almost certainly not going to be impeached. But, it is precisely when there is no one left to blame that he will be fully judged on his actions.

That is the rarely calculated price of consolidation: concentrated power always comes with an indivisible responsibility.