Prabowo's Anger Issues Becomes His Achilles' Heel in 2024 Election

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Prabowo Subianto's anger issues is again taking the spotlight in the presidential election. The Minister for Defense was repeatedly caught on camera giving rude comments toward his rival, particularly Anies Baswedan.

During a rally last month, Prabowo rebuked an ethical argument from Anies Baswedan who implicitly criticized the Constitutional Court's decision to revise age limit rule. The ruling allows President Joko Widodo's son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, to run as Prabowo's vice presidential candidate. 

Anies gave that statement during the first presidential debate, and Prabowo later expressed his dismay. 

"Ethics, ethics, ethics. Your head ethics!" said Prabowo who used a Javanese word for head ("ndas"). 

Later, a spokesperson from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) clarified that Prabowo said that in "family" setting with his fellow party members.  

But after the third presidential debate on Sunday, Prabowo used harsher words to attack Anies Baswedan.

Prabowo said Anies was using a wrong data against him during the debate, and Prabowo called his rival "goblok" and "tolol" without mentioning Anies' name. Both words mean stupid in Indonesian.

His remarks were met with sarcastic jokes from former Vice President Jusuf Kalla who supports Anies Baswedan, although JK did not explicitly mention Prabowo's name.

"If that one of our fellows is always angry, how would it be when the country were led by someone who is prone to anger?" asked Jusuf Kalla in East Java. 

"How would it be if he debated with the leaders of other countries? [Those leaders] could be punched in the head," joked JK.