Soeharto, Prabowo invited to ABRI anniversary event
Soeharto, Prabowo invited to ABRI anniversary event
JAKARTA (JP): Former president Soeharto and his son-in-law Lt.
Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto, together with other senior retired
generals, are to be invited to the Armed Forces' (ABRI) 53rd
anniversary on Monday.
Chairman of the organizing committee, Maj. Gen. Soeparto S.,
told a media conference the invitations would be sent before the
end of the week. "Former president Soeharto and former chief of
the Armed Forces Staff and Command School Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo
Subianto will be among ABRI's retired generals invited to the
ceremony," he said.
He said he could not guarantee that either Soeharto or Prabowo
would attend the event, which will be led for the first time by
President B.J. Habibie at the Armed Forces headquarters in
Cilangkap, East Jakarta, on Monday morning.
Soeharto led last year's commemoration of ABRI day wearing his
uniform, complete with its honorary five-star Great General
emblem, which he had received from the Armed Forces headquarters
a few days earlier. Last year's celebration was also attended by
the only other living five-star general, Abdul Haris Nasution.
Asked the reason Prabowo was invited to the ceremony, Soeparto
said the Armed Forces headquarters invited all retired officers
who were ranked three-star generals and above.
"Moreover, Prabowo was honorably discharged from his post as
commander of the Armed Forces Staff and Command School," he said.
Prabowo, the former commandant-general of the Army's Special
Force (Kopassus) and husband of Soeharto's second daughter Siti
Hediati, was dismissed from the Armed Forces in August following
a military investigation into his involvement in the abductions
and torture of political activists.
Armed Forces spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif said Minister
of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto would
address the anniversary, during which he would announce ABRI's
decision on the suggested separation of the National Police from
the Armed Forces. Syamsul said Wiranto would also likely make
reference to calls for the establishment of a federal system of
government. (imn)