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'America is an important country', Prabowo to visit US for first time in decades
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Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto salutes journalists before his first working meeting as minister with members of House of Representatives Commission I, which oversees defense, foreign affairs, information and intelligence, at the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Monday, Nov. 11, 2019. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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early one year after being appointed as a Defense Minister by his political rival, former Army general Prabowo Subianto is leaving for the United States this week to meet his US counterpart Mark Esper; quite a diplomatic achievement after years of being barred entry to the country.
Prabowo had long been banned from visiting the US because of allegations of human rights abuses. He was included in a blanket ban on the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) for alleged human rights violations in East Timor when the territory was under Indonesian rule.
The minister talked about the five-day visit to the US starting on Thursday in a video released by the Gerindra Party on Tuesday, confirming that he was accepting the invitation because he considered the US an important country.
"America is an important country and I was invited, so I must fulfill the invitation," Prabowo said, "even though we will have a long journey, [especially with] the COVID-19 pandemic, we still have to respect [the invitation]."
As the US renews its diplomatic campaign against China in the Indo-Pacific theater, Esper has expressed his intention of visiting Indonesia to strengthen cooperation through arms sales, citing good relations between the US and Indonesia, and he has spoken with Prabowo several times this year.
Prabowo went on to say he had reported the invitation to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who asked him to leave for the US.
"I went to the President. I reported, 'Pak, I got an invitation from the US' and he said, 'yes, you have to go.' So, we are going," he said.
