MPR Chairman Explains the Assignment of the President to Attend the Funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

JAKARTA - MPR Chairman Ahmad Muzani explained that he attended the funeral of the highest leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a special envoy of President Prabowo Subianto, not in his capacity as Chairman of the MPR.

"I was contacted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs that the President asked us to represent the people and the Indonesian nation to come to Iran to attend the funeral ceremony of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei," said Muzani, Tuesday, July 7.

Muzani said President Prabowo Subianto assigned him and Foreign Minister Sugiono to attend the funeral ceremony which was scheduled to take place on Thursday (9/7).

He emphasized that his presence was an assignment as a special envoy of the President so that he did not represent the MPR as a state institution.

Responding to views regarding the status of the President and the MPR as equal state institutions, Muzani said the President as the head of state has the authority to determine who represents Indonesia in a state event.

"The MPR and the President are both state institutions, but the President is the head of state who has the authority to determine who is worthy of representing the country," he said.

Muzani also admitted that he had never applied to become an Indonesian delegate and did not know the special considerations of the President in appointing him.

"I never asked," he said.

Previously, Deputy Chairman of the MPR Bambang Wuryanto questioned the mechanism for appointing the Chairman of the MPR as the representative of Indonesia to attend the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to Bambang, if the assignment is carried out in the capacity of representing the MPR, the mechanism should be discussed first through a meeting of the MPR leadership. However, until now he admitted that he had not received an invitation to the meeting.

"If it is in accordance with the regulations, the leadership of the MPR will hold a meeting, then decide to give consideration. So it is not ruling," said Bambang.