Fabian Januarius Kuwado, Jakarta – The Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) Directorate General of Immigration has confirmed that presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto briefly visited Brunei Darussalam on Thursday May 16.
Kemenkumham Directorate General for Immigration sub-division head Sam Fernando revealed that Prabowo along with his entourage departed from the Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport in East Jakarta at 12.10 pm local time.
“He took his private jet, 9H-NYC Embraer 190-Lineage 1000, and headed for [the Brunei capital of] Bandar Seri Begawan”, said Fernando when sought for confirmation by Kompas.com on Saturday May 18.
Twelve people accompanied Prabowo on the flight.
Fernando also confirmed that Prabowo and his entourage returned to Jakarta via the same route on the same day. “They arrived (again in Jakarta) at 8.12 pm local time on the same date”, said Fernando.
The confirmation was related to a photograph of Prabowo at an airport which went viral but without any clear explanation of where or when the photo was taken.
In the photo Prabowo appears wearing a full suit, black peci cap and wearing black sunglasses.
Appearing alongside him is Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) Deputy Chairperson Sugiono, Islamic scholar Ansufri Idrus Sambo and a number of other people wearing similar clothing to Prabowo.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Imigrasi Benarkan Prabowo ke Brunei Pergi-Pulang dengan Pesawat Pribadi”.]
Notes
The Prabowo camp has denied that Prabowo visited Brunei saying the photo circulating on social media was an old one and insisting that Prabowo was at his private residence in Jakarta on May 16 and 17. A direct flight from Jakarta to Bandar Seri Begawan by a commercial airline takes approximately 2-and-a-half hours meaning that if Prabowo did indeed fly to Brunei he could only have spent around three hours in there.
