Penal populism

Strongmen unite: Bobby (right) greeting Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto in the North Sumatra capital earlier this year. — The Jakarta Post/ANN

MEDAN Mayor Bobby Nasution, the 32-year-old son-in-law of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, is probably too young to have heard Indonesian folk singer Iwan Fals’ popular song Sugali – or he may just not be much of a fan.

It’s a catchy, country-inflected tune about a thug named Sugali who chooses to live a dangerous life under the New Order’s “Petrus” policy.