Jessi Carina, Jakarta – Presidential candidate number 2 Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto greeted a number 98 activists who have joined him in the Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team (TKN) at an Indonesian Youth Vote for Prabowo-Gibran event at the Jakarta Convention Centre (JCC) in Senayan, Jakarta, on Saturday January 27.
Included among the activists was former People's Democratic Party (PRD) chairperson Budiman Sudjatmiko and the PRD's current chairperson, Agus Jabo Priyono, who is also the chairperson of the People's Justice and Prosperity Party (Prima).
Prabowo initially apologised to Agus Jabo for trying to hunt down and to arrest the Prima chairperson. According to him, Agus Jabo used to be bandel (stubborn obstinate, undisciplined, trouble maker).
"Present also is [Gerindra Secretary General] Ahmad Muzani, Prima Chairperson Agus Jabo, Sorry for hunting you down before. Before. It was on orders. You were bandel then", said Prabowo.
Then, Prabowo greeted East Java Deputy Governor Emil Dardak who was also present. Dardak is the spokesperson for Prabowo's vice presidential running mate and President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Prabowo asked the audience whether Dardak is fit to be a leader even though he is still young. "Emil Dardak, deputy governor. Before [being elected was] 34, it turned out he was capable. Is he fit or not?", he asked.
Then, Prabowo greeted Sudjatmiko, a 98 activist who was once imprisoned during the New Order era of former president Suharto.
Prabowo then apologised to Sudjatmiko for once trying to hunt him down and arrest him. "Then saudara [brother] Budiman Sudjatmiko. I'm also sorry, Man, before I also [tried] to hunt you down. But I've already apologised to you, yeah", added Prabowo.
Sudjatmiko's admission
Sudjatmiko has previously said that Prabowo, who is also the chairperson of Gerindra, the Greater Indonesia Movement Party, once admitted to him that he returned all of the activists that were abducted in 1998.
It's just that Prabowo does not know the fate of the abduction victims who never returned home or were declared missing. At least 13 of the pro-democracy activists abducted in 1997-98 are still missing.
This was conveyed by Sudjatmiko during a Gaspol! talk-show program broadcast on the Kompas.com YouTube channel on Wednesday July 26.
Sudjatmiko explained that he and one of the abduction victims that was returned home, former PRD leader Nezar Patria, interviewed Prabowo in 2002.
"Yeah, why not? Why not if one day we could talk about it with Pak [Mr] Prabowo? So in 2002 I asked about it. But I forgot to convey it in 2002 when Nezar and I interviewed [Prabowo]", said Sudjatmiko on the program.
Sudjatmiko then disclosed Prabowo's response during the interview. According to Sudjatmiko, Prabowo admitted that he had indeed abducted the activists, but that he had returned all of the victims to their respective homes.
Meanwhile with regard to the other activists whose whereabouts are still not known to this day, Prabowo claimed not to know their fate.
"(Prabowo said) 'The ones I took were all returned. I returned all of them. I don't know why some of them never returned home. But the ones I took were all released'. That was his admission", said Sudjatmiko.
Sudjatmiko said that the meeting in 2002 was the first time that he met with Prabowo.
Meanwhile at the time when the incident occurred in 1997-98, Prabowo was still the commander of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus). Kopassus is known to have formed a small team called the Rose Team (Tim Mawar), which carried out the operation to abduct the activists.
Notes
Prabowo also admitted to ordering the abductions in an interview with Al Jazeera in 2014, but claimed he was under orders from his superiors and that the kidnappings were legal. "I carried out operations that were legal at the time. If a new government said I was at fault I was here to take full responsibility", he told Al Jazeera on July 18, 2014. Retired General Wiranto however, who was the Armed Forces (ABRI) commander at the time, has said that Prabowo ordered the abductions on his own initiative. "I personally asked then Lt. Gen. Prabowo about who had given him the order [to abduct the activists], he admitted that it was not under the order of the armed forces commander but, rather, on his own initiative based on his analysis of the situation", Wiranto was quoted as saying by the July 20, 2014 Jakarta Post.
- Campaign team slams tabloid for accusing Prabowo of abducting '98 activists. Kompas.com – January 12, 2024
- Ex-PRD leader Budiman says Prabowo admitted abducting activists in 2002 interview. Kompas.com – July 27, 2023
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Prabowo ke Budiman Sudjatmiko: Sorry Man, Dulu Gue Kejar-kejar Elu...".]
