A wealthy former general with ties to both Indonesia's popular outgoing president and the country's dictatorial past will be inaugurated Sunday as the nation's new leader.

Prabowo Subianto has visited more than 20 countries in the last six months as defense minister, and is the first president-elect to have gone on an overseas tour to strategic global partner countries

Prabowo, who was defence minister under Jokowi, raised eyebrows at the regional security forum, the Shangri-La Dialogue, in June by talking about Indonesian peacekeepers going into Gaza and last year proposing a U.N. referendum on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including a demilitarized zone.