Ex-general accused of rights abuses claims victory in Indonesia’s presidential election

Unofficial tallies Wednesday credited Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto with nearly 60 percent of the votes, with more than 80 percent counted. But other candidates have not yet conceded defeat, and election officials have not released an official statement on the race’s outcome.

Who is Subianto? The State Department had prevented Subianto from entering the United States over his human rights record. A U.S. State Department Human Rights Report for Indonesia in 2019 said rights groups had taken issue with Subianto’s appointment as defense minister due to his involvement in the “disappearance of student activists” in 1998. Amnesty International detailed those accusations more fully back in 1998, claiming Subianto was never prosecuted. The State Department’s report also said his supporters had engaged in violent protests after he lost the presidential election to current Indonesian President Joko Widodo in 2019.

Is Subianto allowed to enter the United States? Amnesty International in 2020 criticized the United States for allowing Subianto to come into the country on an official visit. The organization said Subianto had served as a general in the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia and that he’d been “implicated in” enforced disappearances. Subianto denies wrongdoing. Amnesty International said in 2020 that he had still not gone to trial over the allegations.

Dig deeper: Read A.S. Ibrahim’s column in WORLD Opinions about how Indonesia and dozens of other countries seek to align themselves with China further.