What Friends are for
WHEN visiting Indonesia last February, Jordan's King Abdullah II bin Hussein did not only meet with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He also informally attended a Sufi Gathering held by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), one of Indonesia's largest Muslim organizations. There Abdullah sat next to Lieutenant-General (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, now running for president. NU General Chairman Said Aqil Siroj called the two men "friends of NU." "The meeting between Prabowo and Abdullah was a reunion," Said Aqil said at the time.
Prabowo and Abdullah are indeed old friends. After Prabowo was discharged from the military in the wake of Suharto's fall, Abdullah offered to help. At that time, according to Fadli Zon, deputy chairman of Prabowo's Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, Abdullah came incognito to Jakarta and invited Prabowo to live in Jordan. "Prabowo did not want to at first," Fadli said.
July 1, 2014
WHEN visiting Indonesia last February, Jordan's King Abdullah II bin Hussein did not only meet with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He also informally attended a Sufi Gathering held by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), one of Indonesia's largest Muslim organizations. There Abdullah sat next to Lieutenant-General (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, now running for president. NU General Chairman Said Aqil Siroj called the two men "friends of NU." "The meeting b
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