Prabowo leads farmer's association

JAKARTA: Army veteran Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto has won the largest votes in the election for the chairmanship of the Indonesian Farmers' Association (HKTI), defeating his rival Agustin Pulungan.

The election was held on Sunday during the association's fifth 5th national meeting at the Haj Dormitory in East Jakarta.

Prabowo, a former commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) and who formerly lost in the first round of the country's presidential election, secured the majority of votes totaling 309, while Agustin, who served as a deputy secretary general, won only 15 votes.

"I will improve farmers' welfare and realize my dream of making our country self reliant in food supply. I will also promote the information system ... so that the farmers can obtain more knowledge in related with their world," Prabowo said in his speech as quoted by detik.com. He replaced Siswono Yudhohusodo.

Following his dismissal from the military on charges of kidnapping pro-democracy activists in 1998, Prabowo, who was once married to a daughter of former ruler Soeharto, has become active in business apart from entering the presidential race.