TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo has sent presidential chief of staff Gen. (ret.) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan to Washington D.C. to meet U.S. President Barack Obama. Luhut left for the United States last week to deliver a speech at Harvard Business School before departing to Washington D.C.
“I had a letter from Jokowi for Obama,” he said at the presidential complex on Monday, March 9, 2015. Luhut said he met with U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, but stopped short of detailing the letter’s content. “How can I reveal the letter’s content? Come on,” he said.
Luhut said Foreign Affairs Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi was aware of his U.S. trip and underscored he had no intent of going over the minister’s head with this mission. Luhut explained the Indonesian ambassador to the U.S. accompanied him while in the country.
Luhut made the trip amid mounting protests from non-profit organizations (NGO) against the existence of his department. A number of NGOs have even lodged a judicial review on the presidential staff office. Luhut was non-committal when asked about the matter.
Luhut’s position as the helmsman of the presidential staff office, the NGOs claimed, was contradictory with Law No. 12 Year 2011 on the Law Formation and Law No. 39 Year 2008 on State Ministries.
MUHAMMAD MUHYIDDIN
