FAMILIES of Indonesian activists who were kidnapped and tortured by the military 25 years ago expressed shock on Thursday over the apparent presidential election win of the man they blame for the atrocities.

Prabowo Subianto, currently the defence minister under outgoing President Jokowi Widodo, claimed victory in the presidential election on Wednesday, based on unofficial tallies showing that he won by a big margin.

General Subianto was a top commander of the army’s special forces, called Kopassus, under the brutal dictatorship of General Suharto.

They were blamed for human rights abuses, including the torture of 22 activists who had opposed General Suharto, whose 1998 downfall amid massive protests restored democracy in Indonesia.

Standing in a downpour outside the presidential palace in the capital Jakarta, relatives of the activists held posters with pictures of the generals they held responsible for the 1998 disappearances. 

One of the pictures showed General Subianto.

“Mr Prabowo, if you are going to be the president, please resolve the enforced disappearance cases so that we, the victims’ families, can have peace,” Paian Siahaan told reporters.

His son, Munandar Siahaan, was one of the activists who were assaulted by soldiers as General Suharto’s authoritarian rule collapsed. 

Munandar Siahaan and 12 others remain missing.

Another protester, Maria Catarina Sumarsih, said that her son was shot by security forces in 1998 in a university campus. 

She read a letter addressed to President Widodo that condemned General Subianto’s election victory. 

His vice-presidential running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is Widodo’s eldest son.

Adhi Primarizki, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, a think tank in Jakarta, said that General Subianto expectedly avoided human rights issues in his campaign and benefited from many voters’ focus on his promise to continue President Widodo’s economic roadmap.

He said: “Unfortunately, human rights issues are not a popular issue in this election.”