prabowo subijanto dengan batik indonesia motif garuda

Prabowo Subijanto wearing a Garuda Indonesian Batik

Prabowo Subijanto Djojohadikusumo or familiarly called Prabowo is one of Indonesia’s national figures. At present the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia and the General Chairperson of the Gerindra Party who was also in the 2019 presidential election, became a former presidential candidate with Sandiaga Uno challenging Joko Widodo and Maaruf Amin. The man born 68 years ago has a long career journey.

During the New Order era, he was the Kopassus Commander (Special Forces Command) and was also the Commander of the Army Strategic Reserve Commander. His career was interrupted during the 1998 monetary crisis marked by the fall of the Suharto regime. He began his political career by running for the 2004 presidential candidate from the Golkar Party, but failed.

Then he founded the Gerindra Party in 2008 and ran for vice-presidential candidate with Megawati Sukarnoputri, but also failed. In 2014, he teamed up with Hatta Rajasa as a presidential and vice-presidential candidate against Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla, and in 2019 yesterday, he teamed up with Sandiaga Uno as well as a presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate and both also failed.  

Prabowo Subijanto wearing a Garuda Indonesia Batik
Photo: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2019/07/24/12543621/saat-prabowo-pilih-batik-daripada-safari-ketika-temui-megawati

In his daily life, Prabowo also seems to enjoy batik. At formal political and other events, Prabowo was often seen wearing batik. President Director of PT. Nusantara Energy is seen wearing a dark green batik with a Garuda motif.

Garuda or gurdo has an important role in the cultural fabric of Javanese society. Garuda is a very large bird with wings spread wide on both sides and a handsome body. In ancient times, Garuda was a Batara Vishnu vehicle also known as the Sun God.

In the era of the ancient Mataram kingdom, this motif could only be worn by the King, so this was one of the prohibited batik motifs. But as time goes by, the craftsmen reproduce many of these Garuda motifs. The meaning contained in Garuda, among others, is a symbol of life and a symbol of virility, where Garuda’s physical, handsome, big and strong interpret it like that.