From SBY to JK, They Pay Last Respects to Former Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s sixth president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to the tenth and twelfth vice presidents, Jusuf Kalla, paid their respects to former Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono, who passed away on Saturday (28/3), with his body lying in state at the Ministry of Defence building in Jakarta on Sunday. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) arrived at the Ministry of Defence at 10.10 WIB alone, while Jusuf Kalla (JK) had visited earlier around 09.30 WIB. The body of Juwono Sudarsono was laid in state in the Quiet Room at the Ministry of Defence building. “We have lost one of the nation’s finest sons, the late Prof. Dr. Juwono Sudarsono. I knew the late personally,” said SBY when interviewed after offering condolences. In addition to these two figures, several members of President Prabowo Subianto’s cabinet also offered condolences, including Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Abdul Mu’ti and Deputy Minister of Immigration and Corrections Silmy Karim. After the lying in state ceremony concluded, Deputy Defence Minister Donny Ermawan immediately led the funeral procession for burial at the Kalibata Heroes’ Cemetery (TMP) in Jakarta. Several Ministry of Defence officials and the family of the deceased attended the ceremony. SBY recalled that Juwono was a Defence Minister who contributed to modernising Indonesia’s defence forces. SBY assessed Juwono as a brilliant figure with a civilian background. “One of the things we thought about with Mr Juwono and then with Mr Purnomo Yusgiantoro as Defence Minister was how Indonesia could have a National Defence University,” said SBY. Previously, the Defence Minister during the fourth president of the Republic of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid alias Gus Dur, and the sixth president of the Republic of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono alias SBY, namely Juwono Sudarsono, has passed away. The Professor of International Relations at the University of Indonesia passed away on Saturday (28/3) at 13.45 WIB at Pondok Indah Hospital, Jakarta.