Top leaders attend Anak Agung cremation

Top leaders attend Anak Agung cremation

GIANYAR, Bali (JP): Top political leaders put aside party
politics for a few hours here on Thursday to pay homage and
attend the cremation ceremony of the late Ide Anak Agung Gde
Agung.

Highlighting those in attendance at the colorful ceremony were
presidential hopeful and chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri, along
with Akbar Tandjung of the Golkar Party.

Also seen were Yogyakarta's Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono
X, businessman Arifin Panigoro and former Cabinet member
Moerdiono.

Anak Agung, who served in a multitude of top posts, passed
away here in April at the age of 78. He died after several weeks
of treatment at a hospital in Perth, Australia.

Anak Agung, son of the king of Gianyar, was once prime
minister of the Dutch-puppet East Indonesia State, a minister and
an ambassador.

He spent his final years in the vast complex of his palace,
the Puri Agung Gianyar, in the central part of Gianyar, writing
books and promoting attention among the Hindu intellectual fora
on the survival of Balinese culture.

A secretary and dozens of parekan (courtiers) kept him company
while his four children lived and worked in Jakarta. (50/byg)