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 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, 77, told The Associated Press.His son, Munandar Siahaan, was one of the activists who were assaulted by soldiers as Suharto’s authoritarian rule collapsed. Munandar Siahaan and 12 others remain missing.Another protester, Maria Catarina Sumarsih, 71, said her son was shot by security forces in 1998 in a university campus. She read a letter addressed to Widodo that condemned Subianto’s election victory. His running mate, a vice presidential candidate, is Widodo’s eldest son.Subianto expectedly avoided human rights issues in his campaign and benefitted from many voters’ focus on his promise to continue Widodo’s economic roadmap, Adhi Primarizki of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, a think tank in Jakarta, said.“Unfortunately, human rights issues are not a popular issue in this election,” Primarizki said. Many voters were too young to witness human rights abuses in the Suharto era.
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