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Young guns in Prabowo's circle of trusted lieutenants
Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, a former Army commander, has surrounded himself with a number of young men that have either military backgrounds or boast exceptional academic achievements
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residential candidate Prabowo Subianto, a former Army commander, has surrounded himself with a number of young men that have either military backgrounds or boast exceptional academic achievements.
Aside from his family, Prabowo's most trusted underling is Fadli Zon, 43, the Gerindra Party's deputy chairman and recently selected member of the House of Representatives.
Fadli, who read Russian literature at the University of Indonesia (UI) and later development studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), has been a confidant of the dismissed general for two decades.
As a regular on Prabowo's campaign trail, Fadli has been seen accompanying the presidential candidate across the archipelago.
When asked about the beginning of his relationship with Prabowo, Fadli spoke about his time at UI.
'I used to be an activist in UI and I often led student rallies. This path led me to Prabowo,' he said.
In July 1994 Fadli was invited to take part in a discussion at UI's Center for Policy and Development Studies, it was here that he met Prabowo for the first time.
According to Fadli, despite the age difference, he clicked with Prabowo straight away and the pair found they shared an interest in national development.
'Whenever we talked about development we were always on the same page, he did not agree with the dichotomy between the civil sector and the military,' he said.
Prabowo's inner circle also includes several well-rounded, bright men, such as Sudaryono, 29, who is Gerindra deputy secretary-general and Prabowo's personal secretary.
He graduated from Japan's National Academy of Defense.
Sugiono, 35, graduated from Norwich University and is a former Indonesian Military (TNI) first lieutenant.
Both Sudaryono and Sugiono are alumni of the prestigious Taruna Nusantara high school in Magelang, Central Java.
Dirgayuza Setiawan, at 25 years old, is one of Gerindra's youngest executives. He is a graduate of the University of Melbourne.
'My father was Pak Prabowo's personal doctor during the latter's [military] tour of duty in East Timor,' Dirgayuza told The Jakarta Post, adding that Prabowo was a Star Wars geek.
Prabowo refers to Sudaryono, Sugiono and Dirgayuza as his 'Jedi Knights', referring to characters in George Lucas' Star Wars franchise.
These three individuals are also joined by members of Gerindra's board of patrons.
The board is mostly made up of retired generals such as member of the Gerindra Party's campaign team (Bapilu) head, Navy deputy chief Vice Adm. (ret) Moekhlas Sidik, 59.
Moekhlas said that prior to the April 9 legislative election, he had been instructed by Prabowo to stay under the media's radar and just focus on his job, 'at least until the legislative election is over'.
After Gerindra secured the third largest share of the vote in the legislative election, Moekhlas was installed as deputy chairman for the Prabowo-Hatta Rajasa presidential campaign team.
Moekhlas, who graduated from the military academy in 1977, spent most of his career in the Navy's elite frogmen command before assuming the role of commander of the Navy's western fleet and later its eastern fleet.
Hasyim Widhiarto contributed to this report.
