JAKARTA - Political observer of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Jayabaya University, Igor Dirgantara, said there were three important meanings related to the visit of the Minister of Defense (Menhan) Prabowo Subianto to the United States.
First, this visit can remove the oblique accusations about human rights violators that have prevented the Gerindra Party Chairman from visiting Uncle Sam's country.
"Automatically all allegations against the former Special Forces Special Forces (Kopassus) are now vanished," Igor said as quoted from his written statement, Friday, October 16.
According to Igor, Prabowo has been accused of committing human rights violations by the United States during the days of President Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. In addition, Prabowo was also accused of kidnapping student activists during the May 1998 riots that overthrew President Soeharto.
In addition, the US State Department's decision to grant visas and lift Prabowo's ban was correct. Because with this visit, the US-Indonesia bilateral relations and military cooperation between the two countries will be stronger.
The second point is that this visit can increase his political standing and repositioning in the political configuration in Indonesia ahead of 2024 because the accusations that are often used every time Prabowo step forward have been denied.
"Because it is impossible for the US government to arbitrarily invite high-ranking officials of a country to come as an agenda for an official state visit," he said.
This visit, continued Igor, indicates a strong signal that America will endorse Prabowo in the upcoming 2024 elections. This is because America is deemed to need Indonesian cooperation as a balancing act due to Indonesia's proximity to China, as well as supporting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile in the defense sector, this invitation is addressed to Prabowo because the US wants Indonesia to buy his military equipment.
"The US has an interest in Indonesia buying US military equipment, such as F-35 fighter planes instead of Sukhois from Russia," he said.
Finally, this invitation to Prabowo is also seen as proof of the success of the Indonesian leader. Because, before Prabowo was invited, there were a number of other big countries such as China, Russia, France and Japan.
"It cannot be denied that this shows Prabowo's capacity, which is very much considered as the figure of Indonesia's future leader," he said.
Defense Minister (Menhan) Prabowo Subianto is scheduled to travel to the United States after he received an invitation from the US Defense Minister Mark T. Esper.
The tour is scheduled to last for four days from October 15 to October 19.
"Pak Prabowo has been active in the United States from 15 to 19," said the spokesman for the Indonesian Minister of Defense, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak in his video statement quoted on Thursday, October 15.
During this visit, Prabowo is scheduled to hold a number of meetings with various parties to discuss a number of matters related to defense.
"He will talk about defense cooperation between the United States and Indonesia, continue the various collaborations that have been done so far, and meet with many parties, especially those related to defense in the United States," he said.
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