Patron of Indonesia's Gerindra Party visits S'pore
Posted: 02 August 2012 2227 hrs
Mr Prabowo Subianto, Patron of Indonesia's Gerindra Party, paid a courtesy call on Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. (Photo: MFA)
SINGAPORE: The Patron of Indonesia's Gerindra Party is in Singapore for a visit.
Mr Prabowo Subianto paid a courtesy call on Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday morning.
They discussed developments in Indonesia and the region.
On Wednesday, Mr Prabowo and his delegation were hosted to dinner by Foreign Affairs and Law Minister Mr K Shanmugam.
Mr Prabowo is in Singapore in conjunction with a speaking engagement organised by the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
- CNA/cc
If the riots were orchestrated, there had to be a mastermind. His identity may never be fully substantiated, but one man has been consistently linked to the violence: Suharto's son-in-law, Lt.-Gen. Prabowo Subianto, at the time commander of the elite Army Strategic Reserves (Kostrad). Prabowo, a volatile and much-resented officer, is almost too obvious a suspect. Fadli Zon, a Muslim activist close to Prabowo, says the lieutenant general is a victim of "character assassination." Days after the riots, Prabowo himself denied involvement. In June his intermediaries told Asiaweek he might consent to an interview. It hasn't happened yet.
Prabowo is ambitious and he certainly had the means to instigate riots. He had at his call thousands of reckless young men, many of them members of paramilitary organizations known to foment trouble. Hoodlums, gangsters, paramilitaries, youth groups - call them what you will. Some, like Pemuda Pancasila, are well established and led by retired officers. Military sources suspect other organizations involved in the riots are no more than local rackets headed by thugs recruited from the provinces and set loose in the capital.
"Prabowo was obsessed with his belief that the only way to govern Indonesia was by military stratagems," says a senior military officer, "and that he could take power in exactly the same way as his own father-in-law wrested power from Sukarno." The officer claims Prabowo wanted to create such chaos that his rival, armed forces chief Gen. Wiranto, would be unable to restore order. Suharto, in Egypt at the time, would have had to declare martial law. As chief of Kostrad, a key combat-ready unit, Prabowo would have been the only one able to take charge. That's one theory. Others say he wanted to impress Suharto by sowing chaos - and then proving he could control it.
In the end, Prabowo lost his patron and his command. His country lost far more - 1,188 people dead, as many as 468 women raped, and 40 malls, 2,470 shophouses and 1,119 cars looted or destroyed. Ten days that shook Indonesia:
http://leavis.tripod.com/rapes.html
Posted: 02 August 2012 2227 hrs
Mr Prabowo Subianto, Patron of Indonesia's Gerindra Party, paid a courtesy call on Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. (Photo: MFA)
SINGAPORE: The Patron of Indonesia's Gerindra Party is in Singapore for a visit.
Mr Prabowo Subianto paid a courtesy call on Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday morning.
They discussed developments in Indonesia and the region.
On Wednesday, Mr Prabowo and his delegation were hosted to dinner by Foreign Affairs and Law Minister Mr K Shanmugam.
Mr Prabowo is in Singapore in conjunction with a speaking engagement organised by the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
- CNA/cc
If the riots were orchestrated, there had to be a mastermind. His identity may never be fully substantiated, but one man has been consistently linked to the violence: Suharto's son-in-law, Lt.-Gen. Prabowo Subianto, at the time commander of the elite Army Strategic Reserves (Kostrad). Prabowo, a volatile and much-resented officer, is almost too obvious a suspect. Fadli Zon, a Muslim activist close to Prabowo, says the lieutenant general is a victim of "character assassination." Days after the riots, Prabowo himself denied involvement. In June his intermediaries told Asiaweek he might consent to an interview. It hasn't happened yet.
Prabowo is ambitious and he certainly had the means to instigate riots. He had at his call thousands of reckless young men, many of them members of paramilitary organizations known to foment trouble. Hoodlums, gangsters, paramilitaries, youth groups - call them what you will. Some, like Pemuda Pancasila, are well established and led by retired officers. Military sources suspect other organizations involved in the riots are no more than local rackets headed by thugs recruited from the provinces and set loose in the capital.
"Prabowo was obsessed with his belief that the only way to govern Indonesia was by military stratagems," says a senior military officer, "and that he could take power in exactly the same way as his own father-in-law wrested power from Sukarno." The officer claims Prabowo wanted to create such chaos that his rival, armed forces chief Gen. Wiranto, would be unable to restore order. Suharto, in Egypt at the time, would have had to declare martial law. As chief of Kostrad, a key combat-ready unit, Prabowo would have been the only one able to take charge. That's one theory. Others say he wanted to impress Suharto by sowing chaos - and then proving he could control it.
In the end, Prabowo lost his patron and his command. His country lost far more - 1,188 people dead, as many as 468 women raped, and 40 malls, 2,470 shophouses and 1,119 cars looted or destroyed. Ten days that shook Indonesia:
http://leavis.tripod.com/rapes.html
