‘Nepo Baby’ in Indonesian Dynastic Politics
How a term for Western celebrity offspring applies to an Indonesian politician.
Living abroad, I try to keep updated with Indonesian politics, which now revolves around the upcoming presidential election in February.
Still, I am clueless about many things. I rely only on social media to get at least the gist of what happened in my country, but I don’t think it is enough.
On December 23, 2023, I stumbled upon an article that caught my attention. It was a news article entitled “Indonesian leader’s son brushes off ‘nepo baby’ tag in feted debate showing”, from Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern media outlet.
I scratched my head upon reading the headline. Why “nepo baby”? What does it have to do with an Indonesian politician?
Perplexed, I immediately consulted my friends in Indonesia about the meaning of “nepo baby” with regard to current politics. They gave me a list of eye-opening responses.
Thanks to them, I found it interesting to repurpose the discussion with my friends into a blog post. So, here I am talking about “nepo baby” and the actual Indonesian term used among Indonesians.
