Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is playing a classic survival game in Jakarta. Faced with a steep slide in public support, he just filled his long-vacant presidential advisory council with 26 figures, bringing key loyalists of former leader Joko Widodo straight into his inner circle.
If you look at the numbers, you will see why. Prabowo enjoyed a comfortable honeymoon phase for months, with approval ratings sitting near an enviable 81.2 percent late last year. By July 2026, polling data from SMRC showed that figure plunging down to 51.1 percent. That is a thirty-point drop in less than a year. Economic anxieties, policy friction, and growing public fatigue have caught up with the administration fast.
Bringing in figures like Pratikno, who chaired the council and served as a trusted minister under Widodo before joining Prabowo's cabinet, is not an accident. It is a calculated move to lock down potential rivals.
The Politics of Co-optation
Political analysts in Jakarta point out a simple rule of Indonesian power dynamics. When you pull your predecessor's key allies into your camp, you remove the infrastructure they could use to build an opposition against you.
Prabowo designated a mix of 26 political figures, civil society representatives, Muslim leaders, businessmen, and activists to the advisory body. It had remained completely vacant since he took office in October 2024. Why wait this long? Because leaders usually hand out advisory seats when times are good. Waiting until public satisfaction tanks tells you everything you need to know about the current political climate.
The advisory council doesn't hold direct executive power. It cannot write laws, command ministries, or set fiscal policy on its own. It is a consultative body designed entirely to give confidential feedback to the president. But in practical terms, its value is defensive. By absorbing these elites into his sphere of influence, Prabowo ensures they stay inside the tent rather than organizing outside of it.
Economic Pressures Fueling the Shift
The sharp drop in Prabowo's approval rating isn't happening in a vacuum. Rising living costs, pressure on ordinary households, and shifting sentiment regarding the broader economy have severely dented public optimism. When grocery bills climb and job security feels shaky, voters stop giving leaders the benefit of the doubt.
Past administrations in Indonesia faced similar walls when their economic honeymoon periods ended. The traditional playbook requires shoring up political alliances across factional lines to block any united front of criticism. By welcoming influential figures connected to Widodo's administration—often referred to locally as Jokowi loyalists—Prabowo is trying to stabilize his political foundation before regional and legislative pressures mount further toward the 2029 elections.
What Happens Next in Jakarta
Will a reshuffled advisory board fix falling approval ratings? Probably not on its own. Public frustration rarely vanishes because political elites trade seats in a palace boardroom. Ordinary Indonesians care about stable prices, jobs, and clean governance, not internal coalition management.
Prabowo still has to deliver tangible economic relief to turn those numbers back around. If economic sentiment continues to drag, co-opting political heavyweights will only buy him short-term breathing room. Watch the upcoming cabinet moves and policy rollouts closely. That is where the real test of his presidency lies.
