If one wishes to understand Prabowo Subianto, perhaps we need not\nbegin with his political speeches. We might instead open a book he once\nrecommended for young people to read. That book is The Warrior of the\nLight by Paulo Coelho. The Indonesian version, Kitab Suci Kesatria\nCahaya, has long been published. The title sounds very Prabowo \u2014\nwarrior, light, struggle. But its contents are more complex. The Warrior\nof the Light is not taught to always attack. He is taught to choose his\nbattles, to listen to his opponent, and to use the opponent\u2019s strength.\nAnd, most interestingly, he draws his sword only when truly\nnecessary.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Najwa Shihab, Prabowo once cited Kitab Suci\nKesatria Cahaya as the book that most influenced him. The book, he said,\n\u2018is not thick, is concise, yet full of lessons that stir the spirit.\u2019 He\neven recommended it to young people who wish to advance and succeed.\nThat statement becomes more interesting because Prabowo himself provides\na clue about how to read him through that book. And another book about\nhim is available for comparison. In the 2021 publication Kepemimpinan\nMiliter: Catatan dari Pengalaman Letjen TNI (Purn.) Prabowo Subianto, he\nmentions Kitab Suci Kesatria Cahaya in the section discussing his\nself-image. One reviewer of that book even places it on page 473, after\na lengthy description of a leader who is brave, calculating, willing to\nmake unpopular decisions, and a blend of a man of action and a man of\nintellect.<\/p>\n
Thus, reading Kitab Suci Kesatria Cahaya alongside Prabowo\u2019s\npolitical experience is not merely a game of matching quotations with\nevents. A kind of map can be assembled. We can see which values he\nappears to have absorbed, how those values manifest in his political\nattitudes, and where his behaviour must still be tested by the demands\nof being president. For an influential book does not automatically make\nits reader the ideal figure of that book. A book is a compass, useful\nfor a human being who can often misread direction.<\/p>\n
Let us enter the key points I have extracted from Kitab Suci Kesatria\nCahaya, and project them onto Prabowo\u2019s conduct and actions. In this\nway, the book appears grounded. First: failure is not a reason to stop.\nOne of the core teachings of Kitab Suci Kesatria Cahaya is how to view\nfailure. The Warrior of the Light is not a person without wounds. He\nbecomes a warrior precisely because he has been afraid, has erred, has\nfallen, and has even felt his life lose meaning. The book affirms that\nwarriors of light \u2018have failed\u2019, continue to ask questions, continue to\nseek meaning, and eventually find it.<\/p>\n
This is where Prabowo\u2019s political story feels very close to Coelho\u2019s\narchetype. He lost the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections before\nfinally winning the 2024 presidential election. Defeat in Indonesian\npolitics is no small matter. It involves political costs, personal\nwounds, mockery, divisions among supporters, and the temptation to\nconclude that the door has closed. But Prabowo kept returning to the\narena. Even long before the 2024 victory, he repeatedly spoke of failure\nas part of the journey. Within the framework of Kitab Suci Kesatria\nCahaya, failure is not treated as identity. One may lose a battle, but\nthat defeat need not become the defeat of one\u2019s entire life. That is\nperhaps one of the most concrete parts of the \u2018Warrior of the Light\u2019 in\nPrabowo: persistence. He did not allow the outcome of one battle to\ndetermine the entire direction of his life. Interestingly, that attitude\nultimately brought him not merely to win an election, but to the seat he\nhad pursued for years.<\/p>\n
But here there is an important note. In Coelho\u2019s philosophy,\nperseverance is not stubbornness. The warrior must be able to\ndistinguish when to keep advancing and when to change course. Kitab Suci\nKesatria Cahaya even teaches that persistence must be distinguished from\nrigidity. A river still heads to the sea, but it does not force its way\nthrough rock. It flows around it. Prabowo too experienced a change of\nstrategy. From hard opposition to the Jokowi administration, he later\nchose reconciliation and entered the government as Minister of Defence.\nAfter winning the 2024 presidential election, he continued with a much\nbroader coalition politics. In the perspective of Kitab Suci Kesatria\nCahaya, this can be read not as surrendering to an opponent, but as a\nchange of terrain to achieve a goal deemed greater.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-warrior-of-the-light-reading-prabowo-through-paulo-coelhos-manual-1787464260", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }