Anwar receives courtesy call from Prabowo

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim today received a courtesy call from Indonesian president-elect and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, who is on a special one-day visit to Malaysia.

Prabowo arrived at Perdana Putra, which houses the Prime Minister’s Office, at 9am.

This is Prabowo’s first visit to Malaysia after being announced as the winner of the Indonesian presidential election for the 2024-2029 term with nearly 60 percent of total votes cast.

In a Facebook post, Anwar said the two leaders had taken time to share their past experiences as well as chart the future of closer Malaysia-Indonesia relations.

”We used this moment to exchange ideas on our careers and the future direction towards Malaysia-Indonesia ties,” said Anwar who chose Indonesia as his first official overseas trip as prime minister in January last year.

”The similar paths of our political careers with various challenges before our appointments was a topic of our casual discussion, along with Prabowo’s stories of his schooling days at Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur.”

Prabowo’s status as president-elect is being challenged in Indonesia’s constitutional court by his two rivals for the position - Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo - who are seeking a poll re-run and nullification of his victory.

According to Antara News, the proceedings will reportedly summon four ministers under outgoing President Joko Widodo’s administration and deliberate on accusations of the state’s interference in the election process, including over the nomination of Prabowo’s vice-president candidate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

Prabowo’s journey to power has been marred with allegations of human rights abuses that led to his discharge as an army general in 1998, the year that coincided with Anwar’s removal from office as then deputy prime minister.

Prabowo lost two previous bids for the presidency in 2014 and 2019, both going up against Jokowi, before their reconciliation following his appointment as a cabinet minister.

Prabowo and his delegation arrived in the country yesterday. The special plane carrying them landed at the Subang Air Base at 10.15pm.

The Indonesian politician is also scheduled to attend a closed-door meeting with Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin during his visit.

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