SINGAPORE — Indonesia's defence minister Prabowo Subianto is in the lead to become the country's next president, according to exit polls conducted after the nation voted on Wednesday (Feb 14).

The early quick-count results released by local pollsters indicate the 72-year-old is well ahead in the three-way contest for the top job, based on samples.

According to Indonesian Survey Circle, based on 75.3 per cent of sample ballots, Mr Prabowo is leading with 58.84 per cent of votes.

His rivals Anies Baswedan, 54, and Ganjar Pranowo, 55, have 23.93 per cent and 17.23 per cent of votes respectively.

Exit polls in Indonesia have a good track record of fairly accurately anticipating the final outcome of elections.

If one candidate gets over 50 per cent of the final vote, he becomes president. Otherwise, the top two candidates contest a run-off election in June.

Mr Anies was the governor of Jakarta from 2017 to 2022, while Mr Ganjar was the governor of Central Java from 2013 to 2023.

Mr Prabowo spent most of his childhood overseas and was educated in the United States, Britain and Switzerland.

He speaks French, German, English and Dutch.

According to Indonesia's anti-corruption agency, his assets were valued at 2 trillion rupiah (S$172 million) in 2022. This makes him the wealthiest of the three presidential hopefuls.

Should Mr Prabowo win, he will succeed 62-year-old president Joko Widodo who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term and is popularly known as Jokowi.

Mr Prabowo is running alongside vice-presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, the eldest son of Mr Jokowi.

The official vote-counting process may take up to 35 days, with nearly 205 million people eligible to vote in the elections.

Here are five things to know about Mr Prabowo, who might become the president of Southeast Asia's largest economy and the world's most populous Muslim country.

1. POLITICAL FAMILY

Mr Prabowo comes from a family entrenched in the country's politics and leading institutions.

His grandfather founded Indonesia's first state bank and played a key role in the nation's independence movement, while Mr Prabowo's father was a prominent economist who served in various cabinet roles under presidents Sukarno and Suharto.

Mr Prabowo's former wife is Titiek Soeharto, also known as Siti Hediati Hariyadi, the second daughter of Suharto.

Suharto, an ex-general who died in 2002, is widely seen as a military dictator. He was the longest-serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1968 to 1998.

Mr Prabowo separated from his wife soon after Suharto was ousted in 1998 following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. They have one son, a fashion designer.

2. MILITARY BACKGROUND

Mr Prabowo joined the Indonesian military shortly after graduating from the Armed Forces Academy in 1974, where he climbed the ranks from serving in the Special Forces to becoming commander of the Army Strategic Reserve, also known as Kostrad, in 1998.

As economic crisis, food shortages, mass unemployment and corruption fuelled riots across Indonesia in 1998, troops under Mr Prabowo's command allegedly kidnapped and tortured at least nine democracy activists.

In a 2014 interview with news outlet Aljazeera, Mr Prabowo acknowledged that the activists were abducted, but said he was under orders and that the kidnappings "were legal".

He has also been accused of other human rights violations — such as allegedly directing the massacre of independence fighters in East Timor — but has denied these allegations.

During the country's presidential debate on Dec 13, Mr Prabowo said he is a "staunch defender of human rights" after facing questioning from his rivals over the allegations.

"People who were detained, the political detainees whom I was accused of kidnapping are now in my camp, supporting me. Don't politicise human rights issues," said Mr Prabowo.

He was discharged from the military in 1998 but never faced criminal prosecution, and went into self-imposed exile in Jordan until 2001.

His alleged human rights violations prompted the United States to ban his entry for decades, but this was lifted in 2020 after Mr Prabowo became defence minister.

3. PREVIOUS RUNS FOR PRESIDENT

In 2008, Mr Prabowo co-founded political party Gerindra and made a bid for vice-president in the 2009 elections. He lost with about 26.8 per cent of the vote.

He made his first presidential bid in 2014 against Mr Jokowi, losing with 46.9 per cent of the vote, or about eight million fewer votes than Mr Jokowi.

In his second bid for presidency against Mr Jokowi, Mr Prabowo garnered 44.5 per cent, less than Mr Jokowi's 55.5 per cent of the vote. 

This year's election is Mr Prabowo's third bid for the top job.

4. EFFORTS AS DEFENCE MINISTER

As the country's defence minister since 2019, Mr Prabowo has led efforts to modernise the nation's military.

This includes acquiring 42 Rafale fighter jets and advancing collaborations with foreign counterparts such as France to strengthen the military's acquisitions.

However, it hasn't all been smooth sailing — he has faced flak for some purchases such as 12 Mirage 2000-5s fighter jets for which the country had trouble covering operational costs.

Mr Prabowo has also proposed during the 2023 Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore a "peace plan" for Russia and Ukraine involving a ceasefire and the creation of a demilitarised zone.

He also suggested both countries withdraw 15km from their forward positions, drawing criticism from the likes of European Union diplomat Josep Borrell and Ukraine's defence minister Oleksii Reznikov.

5. REBRANDING AS A 'CUDDLY GRANDPA'

While Mr Prabowo may have a murky past of alleged human rights abuses, dismissal from the military and exile in Jordan, he has been working to shed this image and is now in pole position to be Indonesia's next leader.

Much of it is credited to his 2024 campaign, where he has rebranded himself as the "cuddly grandpa" with the aid of an artificial intelligence avatar and social media. 

He also moved away from his image as a nationalist-populist and pro-Islamist which he had shown during his previous two runs for the top job, opting for a "softer" image.

This includes showing off his sense of humour — a marked contrast to his reputed fierce temper — by joking in an interview that he might not be a good politician because he "kept on losing".

Mr Prabowo has made several promises during his campaign.

They include a 460 trillion rupiah plan to distribute free lunch and milk to students and expectant mothers, and plans to increase the number of medical schools in Indonesia from 92 to 300.

"Giving all Indonesian children nutritious food, from when they are still inside their mothers' womb and through their school ages... will tackle (the problems of) maternal deaths, malnourished children (and) stunting extreme povert," Mr Prabowo.

He also declared he would aim for 8 per cent economic growth, and would give 20,000 students scholarships to pursue their studies internationally.