NASHVILLE, Tennessee - The United States will not hold back from embracing the incoming presidency of Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto for strategic and economic reasons, despite previous concerns about his alleged human rights abuses.
"Realpolitik has always reigned supreme in Washington," said Mr Vikram Nehru, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
"Now that he is likely to be the next president, the establishment will deal with him just as it did with other heads of state who don't have a completely unblemished record." Mr Prabowo, who looks set to become the new president of Indonesia following the Feb 14 election, was denied a US visa in 2000, reportedly because of his human rights record.
He clinched about 58 per cent of votes - according to unofficial quick counts - with the official tally expected in the next few weeks.
The former general has been accused of involvement in the kidnapping of political dissidents and activists at the end of the Suharto era in 1998 and of human rights abuses in Papua and Timor-Leste.
He has denied any responsibility and has not been formally charged.
The Trump administration waived the visa ban in 2020, when Mr Prabowo was to travel to Washington as Defence Minister in the Cabinet of President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi.
He has visited the country a number of times since then, including a visit in August 2023 to meet his US counterpart Lloyd Austin.
Mr Brian Harding, a senior expert for South-east Asia at Washington-based United States Institute of Peace, said Mr Prabowo stands to gain from a set of favourable circumstances.
"In Washington, where knowledge of Indonesia is sparse in the first place, memories of the 1990s have faded," he said, referring to the decades-old allegations of abuse.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 22, 2024-Ausgabe von The Straits Times.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 22, 2024-Ausgabe von The Straits Times.
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