JAKARTA: Indonesia’s president on Wednesday awarded Prabowo Subianto, his presumptive successor and former special forces chief, an honorary four-star general, decades after he was dismissed from the military amid allegations of rights abuses.
Defense Minister Prabowo, who according to unofficial flash counts had taken an insurmountable lead in the February 14 presidential election, was awarded the rank of four-star general by outgoing President Joko Widodo in a ceremony at the military headquarters in Jakarta.
“This honor is a form of appreciation, it reaffirms commitment to the people and the country. I would like to congratulate General Prabowo Subianto,” he said before attaching four gold star lapels to Prabowo’s jacket.
The award is the culmination of a decades-long rebranding for Prabow, 72, a once rising military star who was dismissed from the army in 1998 amid allegations that he was involved in human rights abuses in East Timor and the disappearance of 13 pro-democracy activists.
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He was a three-star lieutenant general at the time.
Prabowo, a former son-in-law of the late Indonesian dictator Suharto, has always denied wrongdoing but was previously banned from the United States over the claims. He never faced criminal charges.
Prabowo sought self-imposed exile in Jordan after his discharge from the military, but in the decades since he returned to Indonesia he has built an influential political party and civilian career.
He lost consecutive presidential bids to Jokowi, as the incumbent leader is known, in 2014 and 2019 before being appointed to the government as defense minister in 2019.
Preliminary but unofficial results show Prabowo has a clear lead in this year’s election, with expectations that he will be inaugurated as Indonesia’s next president in October.
Analysts have warned that Prabow’s expected victory comes at a time when Indonesia is experiencing democratic decline, with Amnesty International Indonesia saying that Prabow’s new title was an attempt to “whitewash” his alleged dark past.
A spokesman for Prabowo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The alliance between Prabowo and Jokowi has strengthened considerably in recent months, especially after Jokowi’s millennial son was controversially named as Prabowo’s running mate.
