Ministry of Succession Opens Inquiry: Crowd Backs Jokowi Over His Own Successor Prabowo

The Ministry of Succession has received an unusual complaint. Indonesia's previous president and its current one have been entered into the same opinion market and asked to compete for the title of better leader, which the Ministry believes breaks the oldest rule of handovers: the outgoing man leaves, the incoming man is judged against nobody. The fight opened less than a day ago, and the public has already started picking sides with the enthusiasm usually kept for football.

The record, for those who want one, is mixed on both sides. Joko Widodo ran the country from 2014 to 2024, and Britannica describes his reputation as mixed. It credits his government with largely eradicating extreme poverty and building Southeast Asia's first trillion-dollar economy. It also notes he was widely accused of undermining democratic institutions and spent heavily on a new capital, Nusantara, that it calls controversial and incomplete. He still left office with a towering approval rating, which in the Ministry's experience usually means the bill has not arrived yet.

Prabowo Subianto took over in October 2024. After two years he rated his own government's performance as acceptable, while a teacher quoted by the ABC said purchasing power was falling and poverty and corruption were rising. The NGO CELIOS told the ABC that young people were disappointed because his promise of millions of new jobs had not materialised, and police reported hundreds of people detained since August 2025.

The crowd has given its early verdict. On the Morfi opinion market, where people put money behind what they believe, Jokowi leads at 51% consensus with 29 holders, and Prabowo trails at 49% with 29. So far 35 unique traders have put $126,026 behind their views. Our colleague Viktor Dispatch has already watched Prabowo beat a gamer in an admiration contest. Losing to the man who handed him the job is a different kind of match.

The Ministry's position, which is an opinion and not a fact, is that this cannot go on. It proposes that every outgoing Indonesian president be kept on retainer as a permanent benchmark, displayed in a glass case at the unfinished capital, so each successor can be compared live, every morning, against a predecessor who no longer has to deliver anything. Former leaders always look better because their promises have stopped coming due. The Ministry also proposes that all job pledges be issued in jobs instead of speeches, redeemable at any police station except, for now, the ones still busy with detainees.

What to watch: whether Prabowo's backers turn up to close the gap, or whether the market settles into the old habit of preferring the president who has already gone home. The fight is only a few hours old and the Ministry's inquiry is open to the public. Readers who think they can measure two presidents better than a tape measure can join the market on Morfi and put their money where their memory is.