Academia
Prabowo’s political architecture strategy is to embrace former political adversaries within a single, inclusive framework, a “big tent” coalition.
President Prabowo Subianto (right) greets House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani (left) before delivering a speech on the macroeconomic framework to lawmakers at the Senayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta on May 20, 2026. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
The chess metaphor is frequently used as a reference for interpreting the maneuvers of the elite in Indonesia: who eliminates whom, which pieces are sacrificed and how checkmate is executed.However, analyzing President Prabowo Subianto’s leadership and his consolidation strategy through the lens of chess often I assume leads to erroneous conclusions. Observing his moves thus far, it appears he is not playing chess; rather, he is playing a political game of othello.
Othello is a board game developed by Goro Hasegawa from Japan in the 1940s. The name “othello” refers to William Shakespeare’s play of the same title, written in 1603. The black and white colors in the game symbolize the main characters: Othello, who is black, and his wife Desdemona, who is white. Meanwhile, the dynamic of flipping pieces one by one toward victory (or defeat) mirrors a dramatic arc filled with intrigue and drastic reversals of fortune.
