On Lt. Gen. Prabowo

This is in reference to the feature article on Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, my elder brother, which appeared in The Jakarta Post on Aug. 25, 1998, page 5, entitled Lt. Gen. Prabowo's downfall faster than his ascent.

I would like to say that I consider this a generally well- written piece, and am in agreement with much of what appeared. There are, however, a few factual errors which I feel are necessary to correct, in the interest of accuracy and fairness.

The assertion was made that the promotion of Lt. Gen. Prabowo from his post as commander of the Army Special Force (Kopassus) directly to the post of chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) was an unprecedented event. In fact, Maj. Gen. Kuntara, current Indonesian ambassador to China, was himself promoted from commander of Kopassus to chief of Kostrad directly, without having had any prior territorial experience, back in 1992. It can thus be seen that this new assignment was not "without precedent" in the Indonesian military hierarchy.

Further, I strongly object to the rumor that Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto "threatened President B.J. Habibie", as stated in the article. This is absolutely false, and may be part of what we suspect is a well-orchestrated disinformation campaign currently being waged in Indonesia and internationally to discredit my brother.

Consider for a moment, if you will, the following. If it were true that Prabowo had threatened the President, is it not highly unlikely that his younger brother would have subsequently been appointed to the prestigious post of Special Envoy to Europe by the same President?

All we ask of the press and the public in this current climate is fair consideration.

HASHIM S. DJOJOHADIKUSUMO

Jakarta

Note: Thank you for the correction.

-- Editor.