Prabowo Subianto surprises with show of compassion to Bali Nine

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. Picture: AFP

Prabowo Subianto was always going to be an unpredictable Indonesian leader.

Yet of all the political forecasts and doomsday predictions that preceded his late October inauguration, the presidential show of compassion that led to the return on Sunday of all five surviving Bali Nine prisoners to Australia in time for Christmas was not a move anyone could have foretold.

We may never know exactly what Anthony Albanese said to convince the new Indonesian leader when they met on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru last month, or whether it was even his idea, given French and Filipino drug prisoners will also be going home soon.

But make no mistake; the fact that this “notorious strongman”, as he is so often described, wanted Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen and Michael Czugaj home before the end of the year is the one and only reason they are now free men reunited with their Australian families after almost 20 years in Indonesian jails.

Successive Australian governments have been making submissions on behalf of the eight men and one woman since their controversial arrests, on an Australian Federal Police tip-off, in April 2005 as they tried to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin out of Bali into Australia.

They all fell on deaf ears under the administration of former president Joko Widodo, a former furniture salesman who defeated Prabowo in the 2014 election on a promise to uphold human rights and democracy in Indonesia and went on to serve two five-year terms.

Within six months, Jokowi (as he became widely known) had overseen the executions of 11 prisoners, including Australian Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 34.

President Prabowo (left) has shown more mercy than his predecessor Joko Widodo (right), who he succeeded in October. Picture: AFP

So often hailed by successive prime ministers as a great friend of Australia, Jokowi refused to show mercy despite a direct federal government appeal and the fact both men had amply proven their rehabilitation over 10 years of model prisoner behaviour.

Their executions prompted another downturn in the bilateral relationship, and the recall of Australia’s ambassador to Jakarta, Paul Grigson.

In the end, it took Prabowo, a former Special Forces commander dogged for decades by allegations of human rights abuses, to break the nexus.

In return for the five men, the Indonesian government had initially demanded they continue to serve their life sentences in Australian prisons and that it be allowed to monitor their rehabilitation progress.

The fact they were returned despite the federal government being unable to fulfil those conditions because of legal limitations shows just how determined this new president was to see this through.

In Indonesia, where drug trafficking is a crime often punishable by death and there is little sympathy for drug criminals, only a “strongman” apparently is willing to withstand the potential blowback from such a move.

Prabowo, 73, was elected to office promising to uphold a “good neighbour” policy, and has so far delivered in spades.

Two months before his swearing-in, he signed a historic upgraded defence pact with Australia.

Eight weeks into his presidency, he has drawn a line under an issue that has been a running sore between our two nations.

The question now is, what might he want in return?