Stories From Indonesia

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Elections: Major Teddy Indra Wijaya, Defense Minister Prabowo’s Aide and President Jokowi’s Former Aide, Creating Controversy, Kompas

“I dare not claim and cannot say that President Jokowi supports me. But, perhaps, you can figure it out for yourselves,” said Minister Prabowo to some applause.

Editor
5 minutes
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Major Teddy Indra Wijaya, Defense Minister Prabowo’s Aide and President Joko Widodo’s Former Aide, Creating Controversy

By Fitria Chusna Farisa for Kompas.com, December 18, 2023

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – An aide to former Indonesian army general and Indonesia’s current Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, Major Teddy Indra Wijaya, has been attracting some attention.

The reason is his presence at the first nationally televised debate of the 2024 presidential election candidates, organized by Indonesia’s General Elections Commission (KPU) on Tuesday (12/12/2023).

The debate featured the three presidential candidates standing in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, including former army general and current Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto.

During the debate, Major Teddy was visible seated among the campaign team of Minister Prabowo Subianto and his vice presidential running mate, President Joko Widodo’s son, Mr. Gibran Rakabuming Raka. He was positioned right behind Mr. Gibran.

Major Teddy was also seated close to prominent members of the Prabowo-Gibran national campaign team, such as the Campaign Advisory Board members General (Retd.) Wiranto (a former aide to President Soeharto and former chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces) and General (Retd.) Agum Gumelar. He was dressed in light blue attire, matching the campaign style of clothing being used by Minister Prabowo and Mr. Gibran and members of their national campaign team.

Major Teddy’s presence at the presidential debate has sparked controversy because of his status as a serving member of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI).

Currently Indonesia’s Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) is reviewing allegations that Major Teddy may have breached the neutrality of the Indonesian military in relation to involvement in elections.

“We are currently conducting an evaluation; we await the outcome today,” said the Chairman of the Elections Supervisory Board Mr. Rahmat Bagja, speaking in Central Jakarta’s Pasar Baru district on Monday (18/12/2023).

Mr. Bagja stated that this evaluation was at the Board’s own initiative. The Elections Supervisory Board conceded it was investigating several viral videos on social media concerning Major Teddy’s presence during the presidential debate.

However, Mr. Bagja said that the Elections Supervisory Board would only present allegations and recommendations regarding whether Major Teddy may have breached the neutrality of the military or not.

If proven, the authority to impose sanctions and penalties lies with the chief of the Armed Forces. “Whether sanctions are imposed or not is at the discretion of the Armed Forces chief. We will process allegations where allegations of breaches arise,” he said.

So who is Major Teddy?

Profile of Teddy Indra Wijaya

Major Teddy Indra Wijaya is an Indonesian Armed Forces officer who is a member of the Army’s Special Forces Command or Kopassus. He is an alumnus of Taruna Nusantara Senior High School in Magelang, Central Java.1

After completing high school, Teddy pursued further education at Indonesia’s Military Academy (Akmil) graduating in 2011.

With three years of military service, Major Teddy’s career soared. While holding the rank of First Lieutenant (Lettu), he was entrusted with the task of serving as an aide to President Joko Widodo during the President’s first term from 2014 to 2019. After this, he pursued further military education in the United States.

During his studies in the US, the Red Beret Corps soldier was remarkably successful. According to the official Armed Forces Army website, Major Teddy succeeded in achieving the ranger tab, indicating he meets the qualifications for elite US Army troops or the US Army Ranger School.

Ranger School itself is the most elite soldier education program in the US Army, producing US Army Ranger graduates for the 75th Ranger Regiment. The School operates a grueling selection process, including physical endurance, land navigation, tactical tests, and leadership assessments. The graduation rate ranges from 20 to 25 per cent of the total student population.

In November 2019, Major Teddy emerged as the top graduate of the US Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, earning the title of International Honor Graduate from among 185 officer students, consisting of 171 American officers, and 14 foreign officers.

On his return to Indonesia, Teddy, now holding the rank of Major, was entrusted with serving as an aide to Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto in President Joko Widodo’s “Advanced Indonesia Cabinet”.

Previously Mentioned by Prabowo

Recently Minister Prabowo referred in public to Major Teddy being a former aide to President Joko Widodo. This occurred during his attendance at a joint prayer event with clerics from Banten province, held at the residence of former Lebak district head Mr. Mulyadi Jayabaya on Sunday (3/12/2023).

During the event, Minister Prabowo spoke for over 35 minutes, during which time he quipped that he could have spoken for two hours, but that his aide, none other than Major Teddy, was already giving him the eye. It was then that Minister Prabowo revealed Teddy’s past as aide to President Widodo.

However, he said for reasons unknown, Major Teddy was now assigned to accompany him. “Ladies and gentlemen, my aide has been giving me the eye. Standing in front of me, his eyes are fixed on me. He used to be Jokowi’s aide. But for some reason he’s now been assigned to me,” Minister Prabowo stated.

Minister Prabowo then discussed the direction of President Widodo’s support in the 2024 presidential election. He admitted that he wouldn’t dare to claim that President Jokowi supported him, but he would let the public make their own assumptions based on the aide currently supporting him.

“I dare not claim and cannot say that President Jokowi supports me. But, perhaps you can figure it out for yourselves,” said Minister Prabowo, who was met with applause.

This article is based on https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/12/18/16300231/sosok-mayor-teddy-ajudan-prabowo-eks-ajudan-jokowi-yang-kini-tuai

In related news:

Footnotes:

  1. According to Wikipedia, Taruna Nusantara can be literally translated as “Patriot of The Archipelago.” The word Taruna itself also generally refers to Indonesia’s military cadet, which has no direct relation to and should not be confused with the school and its students. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taruna_Nusantara. ↩︎

2 responses to “Elections: Major Teddy Indra Wijaya, Defense Minister Prabowo’s Aide and President Jokowi’s Former Aide, Creating Controversy, Kompas”

  1. Defense: The Dual Function Agenda Behind Changes to Defense Force Law, Tempo – Stories From Indonesia Avatar
    Defense: The Dual Function Agenda Behind Changes to Defense Force Law, Tempo – Stories From Indonesia

    […] Read: Elections: Major Teddy Indra Wijaya, Defense Minister Prabowo’s Aide and President Jokowi’s Form… […]

    Like

    Reply
  2. Op-Ed: The Danger of Military and Police Officers Filling Civilian Positions, Koran Tempo – Stories From Indonesia Avatar
    Op-Ed: The Danger of Military and Police Officers Filling Civilian Positions, Koran Tempo – Stories From Indonesia

    […] Also read: Elections: Major Teddy Indra Wijaya, Defense Minister Prabowo’s Aide and President Jokowi’s Form… […]

    Like

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Trending

Discover more from the Indonesian Translation Service

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue Reading