Inside Indonesia’s inner circle: Hashim Djojohadikusumo on his brother Prabowo’s vision

Hashim Djojohadikusumo is smiling almost beatifically, but the trademark feistiness is unmistakable. We are sitting down for a chat amid the turmoil gripping Indonesia’s capital markets and he says emphatically that “it’s good, it’s good” that it happened.This unvarnished answer is one of several he gives as we talk about his country, nearly two years after his elder brother, Prabowo Subianto, won the presidential election by a wide margin, securing 58.6 per cent of the votes on his third attempt. Hashim’s insights offer a glimpse into the administration’s sense of its successes and setbacks.Against that backdrop, he says the government has a strong message, but admits it has not done a good job explaining its narrative. Relations with the media have been tense at times amid claims of shrinking freedoms. Hashim says the government has not shied away from explaining its positions, yet concedes that relations have been “subpar”.The conversation turns to leading index provider MSCI’s sudden warning late last month that seemingly caught everyone off guard.People look at an electronic board displaying stock prices at the Indonesia-stock-exchange" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="25763" data-entity-type="organization">Indonesia Stock Exchange in Jakarta on January 29. Photo: AFPOn January 28, MSCI announced it would stop adjusting Indonesian stocks, citing opaque shareholding structures and what appeared to be coordinated trading behaviour, which it said were clear signs of market manipulation following a months-long rally.Investors rushed for the exits and trading was halted twice in two days, prompting the government to act. Five officials resigned and the authorities have since pledged serious reforms to stabilise the market, from doubling free-float minimums to cracking down on disruptive trading.