Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto published a video of his congratulatory phone call with American President-elect Donald Trump on Monday in which he praised God for protecting Trump from an assassination attempt in July and offered to fly anywhere to celebrate Trump in person.
Prabowo, who has been president of Indonesia since October, notably made the call shortly after leaving Beijing, where he held meetings with genocidal communist dictator Xi Jinping to discuss the expansion of China’s predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and other economic joint protects, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The approach is a notable change from when Prabowo ran for president in 2018, losing to incumbent and future ally Joko Widodo.
Jokowi, as the former president is commonly known, ultimately appointed Prabowo his defense minister, the last job he held before becoming president. Prabowo, who benefitted from a Trump administration decision to allow him into the country despite a years-old ban linked to human rights abuses, emphasized as a presidential candidate this year that he rejects the idea that he must align with either China or America and promised to improve relations with both simultaneously.
The Jakarta Post reported on Tuesday that Prabowo is currently in Washington following his trip to Beijing and is expected to meet with outgoing President Joe Biden. The White House announced this week that Prabowo will meet with Biden to mark the 75th anniversary of formal bilateral ties between Jakarta and Washington.
“The two leaders will also explore ways to strengthen US-Indonesian cooperation as part of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Both the trips to China and America are part of a world tour designed for Prabowo to forge closer ties with other world leaders following his recent election.
The Indonesian president, in charge of the largest majority-Muslim country in the world, published over two minutes of his phone call with the president-elect on Monday in which he placed Trump on speaker setting, allowing viewers to hear his comments.
“Glad to be connected directly with President Elect @realDonaldTrump to extend my heartfelt congratulations on his election as the 47th President of the United States,” Prabowo wrote on social media. “I am looking forward to enhance the collaboration between our two great nations and to more productive discussions in the future.”
In the phone call, Prabowo can be heard congratulating Trump and offering, “if possible, I’d like to call personally on you wherever you are – I’m willing to fly to congratulate you personally, sir.”
Trump thanked Prabowo and applauded his “great job” as president.
“And you English is so good!” he added.
Prabowo also told Trump that his country was “shocked” at the assassination attempt against him in July, in which a gunman injured Trump during a televised rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“We are very happy that the almighty protected you, sir,” Prabowo said.
Trump offered that he “just happened to be in the right place in the right direction” and “somebody was protecting me,” before asking Prabowo how his country was doing. Prabowo offered few details but recalled meeting with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, recently.
“I’d also like to get to your country sometime,” Trump told him, adding, “call anytime you want, you have my number.”
Trump achieved a landslide victory against current Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 presidential election, the first president to win two non-consecutive terms in the White House since Democrat Grover Cleveland. The international reaction to Trump’s return to power has been effusive celebration from some world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, all of whom also received personal phone calls from Trump.
Prabowo was inaugurated president of Indonesia in October after winning a contentious presidential race in February with Jokowi’s backing – and Jokowi’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as his running mate. He ran for president twice before, losing to Jokowi, which prompted riots in Jakarta in 2019 that some blamed Prabowo for inciting. Election observers largely attributed Prabowo’s win to a rebrand in his image from a brutal military leader to a warm grandfather figure on China’s Tiktok platform and other social media.
@prabowosubianto08
Prabowo’s prior reputation stemmed from his military career under dictator Suharto, a dictator who ruled from 1967 to 1998. Shortly before his removal from power, Suharto violently repressed widespread protests against his continued stay in power. Prabowo was accused of organizing the abduction and disappearing of over 20 student protesters.
“Despite admitting his involvement in the abduction of the nine activists who reappeared, General Prabowo was discharged honorably from the military, and as of year’s end no legal action had been taken against him,” a State Department report from 1998 detailed. “Prabowo took no responsibility for the remaining activists who were still missing. The government-established joint fact-finding team, in its November 3 report on the May riots and rapes, urged that Lt. General Prabowo and all those involved in the abductions be brought before a military tribunal.”
Prabowo was banned from entering the United States for decades. The Trump administration revoked the ban in 2020 on the grounds that he was the defense minister of the country and Indonesia was a critical South Asian ally to Washington.
“Minister Prabowo is the appointed minister of defense of the now twice duly-elected president of Indonesia, which is the third-largest democracy in the world,” an anonymous Trump administration official told Reuters in 2020. “He is our counterpart, of a very important partnership, and it is important that we engage with him and treat him as a partner.”
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