The youngest son of former Indonesian president Suharto, Hutomo 'Tommy' Mandala Putra (centre), at the Berkarya Party national meeting in Surakarta, Central Java on March 10, 2018, where he was voted chairman. Unlike the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos Jr who is set to follow in his dictator father’s footsteps in becoming president, Tommy has not been as successful in restoring the Suharto clan image to the glory days of the New Order era. - Reuters/Antara
JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network):- The overwhelming victory for Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr in this week's presidential election in the Philippines signals voters' growing disillusionment with liberal democracy and a penchant for a strong ruler.
We saw this happen in Thailand when it reverted to military rule in 2014, ending its democratic experiment. This leaves Indonesia as just about the only South-East Asian nation that is still trying to build the nation along democratic lines with the guarantees of various freedoms that make up a liberal democracy.
