Matori flown to Singapore

JAKARTA: Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil who has been bed-ridden with a possible stroke over the past week has been moved from the Army hospital in Central Jakarta to Mount Elizabeth general hospital in Singapore.

According to Suwadi, a deputy secretary general of Matori's newly created Glorious Awakening Party (PKD), the minister was moved Wednesday evening "to give him some fresh air and a change of circumstances."

"I have just talked to his son who is with him in Singapore. He said that his father is conscious. He (Matori) has also recognized people who visited him there," Suwadi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

But Suwadi refused to disclose whether Matori was suffering from a stroke, saying that "he is just exhausted."

Matori has been hospitalized for a week but staffers at his ministry have refused to confirm it.

Sources close to Matori, however, said that the minister may have suffered some degree of brain damage due to a stroke and the doctors were trying to save his life.

It may take some time for him to recover, the sources said. -- JP