As Prabowo Subianto basks in the glow of a thumping election win in Indonesia last week, the evolution of his worldview, especially its rich vein of nationalism, is critical to understanding the kind of president he may become.

His is a family and intellectual pedigree whose arc reaches back to the Indonesian war of independence against the Dutch, continues through the post-war era and beyond Suharto, and now culminates in his becoming Indonesia’s president in waiting.