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Air Force denies blocking Prabowo plane

The Air Force said the aborted take-off was due to safety reasons.

Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post)
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Jakarta
Thu, April 4, 2019

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Air Force denies blocking Prabowo plane Seeking support: Presidential candidate number 02 Prabowo Subianto greets his supporters during a mass campaign event at the Delta Sports Stadium in Sidoarjo, East Java, recently. (Antara/Umarul Faruq )

T

he Air Force has issued a statement denying that it stopped a plane carrying Gerindra Party chairman and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto from taking off from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta.

"[The aborted take-off] was because of safety concerns and had absolutely nothing to do with Sukhoi [fighter jets]," Air Force spokesperson Air Cdre. Novyan Samyoga said in a statement on Thursday.

Retired Army general and Prabowo supporter Johannes Suryo Prabowo (not related) was the first to post the accusation on his Twitter account, @marierteman, on Wednesday.

"On its way to Purwokerto [on April 1], the plane carrying Prabowo had to abort its take-off because three fighter jets had passed in front of it," he said. "A formal report and CVR [Cabin Voice Recorder] will be submitted to the air transport director general."

In a subsequent tweet, he added that the landing process for Prabowo's plane was delayed, causing campaign schedules to become "a mess".

Democratic Party politician and avid Twitter user Andi Arief later cited JS Prabowo's tweet and insinuated that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was behind the incident.

"Pak Jokowi, the President of Indonesia, is still responsible for the safety of Pak Prabowo as an official presidential candidate," he said. "If it's true that Pak Prabowo's plane was disturbed by fighter jets [...] as was stated by Pak [JS Prabowo], what scenario is being played out here?"

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