The world’s third-largest democracy is headed for elections next month. Citizens are looking for stability — in all the wrong places. 

As deepfakes go, it’s not a great one. Even so, the viral video of Indonesia’s former president and dictator Suharto that was created using artificial intelligence took the world’s most populous Muslim nation by storm. It racked up millions of views on social media, and prompted hand-wringing about the dangers of using this kind of technology.

These levels of hardship provide an explanation for the rise in popularity of one of the presidential candidates in this election, Prabowo Subianto. He’s a former special-forces commander with outsized influence during the New Order and was dishonorably discharged in the aftermath of its collapse for alleged human-rights violations. For a time, he was Suharto’s son-in-law. Prabowo is offering economic stability and a continuation of the rule under the current leader Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi.

Prabowo is leading in the polls, although early indications suggest a run-off is likely. Standing against him are two former governors — Anies Baswedan of Jakarta and Ganjar Pranowo of Central Java — who have yet to create much traction with the public

It can’t be overstated just how tumultuous the period preceding Suharto’s fall was, and the chaos that ensued in its aftermath. I saw the beginnings of the economic mayhem caused by the Asian Financial Crisis that culminated in deadly riots that eventually forced Suharto to step down. At that point, it looked like the scenario many of us feared could almost happen: the total disintegration of an impossible state that had been held together not by any sense of nationhood — but the idea that this disparate group of people spread out across 17,000 islands could somehow be united in a country.

Much of that was down to the former dictator’s iron-fisted rule, and his use of the military to quell unrest. But Indonesia since has become the poster child for democracy in Southeast Asia, and has had a remarkably successful transition after the initial years of disorder. It was out of this new and refreshed political system that the president for the past decade, Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, emerged — ostensibly a man of the people, a democrat who was not connected to the cronyism and capitalism of the previous era.

Prabowo, 72, and Jokowi, 62 are highly intelligent political operators with polar opposite public personalities — one a swaggering ex-general, the other a soft-spoken furniture maker. They each offer a type of charisma that appeals to a large number of Indonesians. Prabowo has his own party and isn’t even a member of Golkar, whose current candidate doesn’t rate compared to a long-dead dictator.

Now, history is repeating itself. Jokowi’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka is Prabowo’s choice of running mate in what is seen as a sign that nepotism and cronyism, hallmarks of the Suharto era, are returning to haunt yet another generation. Jokowi defeated Prabowo twice for the presidency, but they have since made a pragmatic peace and the former general is currently defense minister. The worries about the damage to democracy have led to rumors and speculation that high-profile members of Jokowi’s cabinet are considering resigning, although the president has issued stern denials.

This kind of active resistance by parliamentarians and civil society is essential, and should continue. Indonesia’s democracy is in its infancy. If it was a person, it would barely be out of university, just starting to make their way in the world. Learning from the past is instructive: Bringing that period back is not.

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Dikata katain Bloomberg