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Prabowo Subianto waves to supporters after being sworn in as Indonesia’s eighth president in Jakarta.Credit:AP

Indonesia and China are friendly and Prabowo’s mantra on foreign affairs is “one thousand friends too few,one enemy too many” but the sea off the Natuna islands is a point of friction.

Chinese vessels,fishing or otherwise,go into the Indonesian exclusive economic zone occasionally,but it is difficult to know how often because Widodo,having made his point very publicly in 2016,seemed to prefer a more low-key approach as time went on.

But this past week’s incidents have created a stir. Bakamla even released video footage and audio.

A view doing the rounds is that China,given its track record on the South China Sea with Malaysia,Vietnam and particularly the Philippines,is testing Prabowo. After all,the coastguard harassed an Indonesian state-owned vessel on three occasions in the first days of his presidency.

But the other possibility is that this type of Chinese harassment of Indonesian vessels is more common than we think,and Prabowo,who has been defence minister since 2019 and across these matters,has made a point of calling it out in a very public manner via Bakamla from week one.

A special forces pro,Prabowo is currently with his ministers at a military academy in Central Java for a bonding session requiring everyone to run drills at 4am in camouflage. On Friday,he presided over a military ceremony. Perhaps he is already stepping out from thecuddly grandpa image created for him during the presidential campaign and returning to his more comfortable strongman roots.

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