Jakarta – Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto has gone abroad to an unidentified country while his legal team is busily engaged in the election dispute trial at the Constitutional Court.
"Prabowo is currently abroad," Lukendra Lukistian, a spokesman for Prabowo's campaign team, told reporters on Friday as quoted by Antara news agency.
Lukistan refused to identify the country where Prabowo is spending his time or say when he is supposed to return. He merely said the chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party has gone abroad on a personal agenda.
Prabowo paid a one-day visit to Brunei Darussalam on May 16, just days before the General Elections Commission announced the presidential election result.
A protest by Prabowo's supporters on May 21 turned into a violent clash, despite the former Army general's call for restraint.
Since then, the police have charged key Prabowo supporters for being involved in an assassination plot and for instigating riots. Gerindra has denied any link to the criminal cases.
On May 29, Prabowo departed again for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and then Europe.
The Immigration Office said no travel ban has been issued against Prabowo since he is not involved in any legal proceedings.
Prabowo has called on his supporters to back down and avoid street protests to prevent more riots during the election dispute trial.
Despite Prabowo's repeated claims of massive and systematic frauds in the election, his legal team has so far failed to present strong evidence to back them.
Their witnesses even became subjects of ridicule on social media, for their inconsistencies and perceived weak testimonies in court.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has been trying to meet Prabowo in person since the end of the election. At least two of his close aides, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, have met Prabowo and tried to arrange the meeting, to no avail.
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/context/prabowo-goes-abroad-again-in-the-middle-of-election-dispute-trial