Taufiq Kiemas laid to rest
Astro Awani
Jun 9, 2013 08:38 MYT
Jun 9, 2013 08:38 MYT
Senior Indonesian politician Taufiq Kiemas was laid to rest at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta before noon with full military honours.
Local reports said that hundreds of mourners—including VIPs, businessmen and ordinary people— gathered to pay their last respects to the chairman of the opposition People's Consultative Assembly(MPR).
“I, the president of the Republic of Indonesia, and on behalf of the nation, am hereby presenting to the motherland the soul, body and services of the late H. Dr. Taufiq Kiemas,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said, according to a Jakarta Globe report.
“May his services [to the country] provide a good example [for others], and may the One God accept his soul.”
“While carrying out his duties as a House of Representatives’ member, he showed consistency, firmness and obstinacy in carrying out the political work he believed in,” Yudhoyono also said, according to a report in Jakarta Post.
Taufiq’s wife, former Indonesia president Megawati Sukarnoputri, was also present, sitting among other Indonesian politicians.
Malaysian Senate president Abu Zahar Ujang and federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Mansor were the country's representatives.
Utusan Malaysia's Indonesian correspondent Saharuddin Musthafa tweeted at the funeral, one of his tweets showed the procession of soldiers who carried Taufiq's casket, drapped with the red-white Indonesian flag.
In a Facebook post, Tengku Adnan offered his condolences on behalf of Barisan Nasional and Umno, saying that he was sent to Indonesia on instructions from the prime minister and deputy prime minister.
“Indeed, the relationship between the party and the country WAS never lost and in fact our closeness as brothers will be forever," said Tengku Adnan.
Yesterday evening, the patron of the Indonesian Democratic Party - Struggle (PDI-P) died in Singapore. He was 70.
He was warded for exhaustion.
Also attending the funeral was Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Masagos Zulkifli.
Some of the other wishes from Pakatan Rakyat leaders on Twitter: