JAKARTA, Indonesia: Indonesia’s top court heard appeals lodged by two losing presidential candidates who are demanding a revote, alleging widespread irregularities and fraud at the polls in appearances before the judges Wednesday.
Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto won the election with an overwhelming margin: 58.6 percent, or more than 96 million votes, according to the General Election Commission — more than twice the runner-up’s share in the three-way race.
But the losing candidates — Former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan and former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo — argue that the election was marred by irregularities throughout the campaign. They’re asking the Constitutional Court to annul the election results and order a revote, in separate lawsuits.
Both candidates presented parts of their cases in person, focusing on allegations that the court itself, as well as outgoing President Joko Widodo, bent laws and norms to support Subianto.
“We witness with deep concern a series of irregularities that have tarnished the integrity of our democracy,” Baswedan told the court.
Dozens of protesters held a peaceful but noisy rally near the court building, declaring that they would oversee the trial. Authorities blocked streets leading to the court where about 400 police were deployed in and around the building.
Indonesian presidents are expected to stay neutral in races to succeed them, but Subianto, a longtime former rival of Widodo who twice lost elections to him before joining his government, ran as his successor. He even chose Widodo’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as running mate, even though Raka did not meet a constitutional requirement that candidates be at least 40 years old.
Baswedan and Pranowo argue that Raka should have been disqualified, and are asking the court to bar him from a revote. Before the election, the Constitutional Court made a controversial exception to the minimum age that allowed him to run, under the leadership of then-chief justice Anwar Usman, who is Widodo’s brother in law. Usman was later forced to resign as chief justice for failing to recuse himself.
“The Constitutional Court was designed to guard the constitution and stem arbitrariness, not to legitimize fraud and crime,” said Todung Mulya Lubis, a prominent lawyer who led Pranowo’s legal team, “This election is an opportunity for the Constitutional Court to reclaim its authority and dignity.”
Baswedan also said that regional officials were pressured or given rewards to influence political choices, and that state social assistance was used as “a transactional tool to help one of the candidates.”
Hefty social aid from the government was disbursed in the middle of the campaign — far more than the amounts spent during the COVID-19 pandemic — and Widodo distributed funds in person in a number of provinces.
“If we do not make corrections, the practices that occurred recently will be considered normal and become habits, then become culture, and ultimately become national character,” Baswedan said before the eight-judge panel.
Subianto himself twice went to the top court to challenge the results of elections he lost to Widodo, but the court rejected his claims as groundless both times. Subianto refused to accept the results of the 2019 presidential election, leading to violence that left seven dead in Jakarta.
Baswedan had the first turn before the court in the morning, while Pranowo spoke in the afternoon.
“What shocked us all, what really destroyed morale, was the abuse of power,” Pranowo told the court, “When the government uses all state resources to support certain candidates, when the security forces are used to defend personal political interests, then it is time for us to take a firm stand to reject all forms of intimidation and oppression.”
Chief Justice Suhartoyo, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, adjourned the hearing until Thursday, when Subianto and the General Election Commission will respond. The verdict, expected on April 22, cannot be appealed.
The case will be decided by eight justices instead of the full nine-member court because Usman, who is still on the court as an associate justice, is required to recuse himself.
Indonesia’s top court hears appeals from losing presidential candidates who want a revote
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Indonesia’s top court hears appeals from losing presidential candidates who want a revote
- Dozens of protesters held a peaceful but noisy rally near the court building, declaring that they would oversee the trial
Families unable to reunite as India-Pakistan border slams shut
- Indian doctor Vikram Udasi, 37, said he and his Pakistani wife both rushed to reach the border crossing when the closure was announced, but arrived just too late
- On Saturday, a steady trickle of cars and rickshaws brought those leaving to the border
As relations between Islamabad and New Delhi quickly deteriorate, the neighboring nations have scrapped visas and expelled each other’s citizens, giving people just days to get to the frontier before it closes.
Jisrani, 39, fears it is already too late, with his Pakistani wife and their two children now stuck on the other side.
“They have told her that they can allow my children to come back, since they are Indian passport holders, but not her,” he said, adding that he has received no advice from the Indian side.
“How can we separate a mother from her children?“
Since India accused Pakistan of backing a deadly April 22 attack on tourists in Pahalgam — claims Islamabad denies — the two countries have exchanged gunfire and diplomatic barbs. And at the busy Attari-Wagah border crossing, the fraying ties are painfully tearing apart the many families that straddle the divide.
There were no immediate figures on how many citizens of either nationality are in each other’s country and are expected to cross.
On Saturday, a steady trickle of cars and rickshaws brought those leaving to the border, with relatives waving farewell at a police barricade.
Indian citizen Anees Mohammad, 41, managed to get his 76-year-old aunt, Shehar Bano, to the border just ahead of India’s April 29 deadline to leave.
“She is old and sick and had come here to meet everyone in the family,” said Mohammad, from Indore in India’s Madhya Pradesh state.
Exhausted and emotional, he mopped his brow in the blazing midday heat as he bid his aunt goodbye.
“No one knows when and if we will meet again.”
At the frontier, the cleavage of families has painful historical precedent. The end of British rule in 1947 violently partitioned the sub-continent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
This week’s expulsion orders add to longstanding distress for families of mixed nationalities, who often struggle to obtain visas.
Jisrani said his wife, Savita Kumari, 35, is a Hindu like him and has a long-term Indian visa.
She has previously used that to travel from her home in India to visit her wider family in Pakistan. But that did not make a difference amid the latest tumult.
On Saturday, the hostilities did not appear to be de-escalating. The Indian army said its troops traded gunfire with Pakistan for a second day running, while Islamabad vowed to defend its sovereignty.
Indian doctor Vikram Udasi, 37, said he and his Pakistani wife both rushed to reach the border crossing when the closure was announced, but arrived just too late.
“My wife and our four-year-old boy, Aahan, went there to meet her mother and the rest of the family,” said Udasi.
He has been at the crossing since Friday, while his wife and their child are barred by officers barely a kilometer away.
“They are now stuck on the other side. They are not being allowed back. They are asking my wife to send the child,” he said.
“Please allow them to return. Go ahead, cancel tourist and other short-term visas, but let those with families and long-term visas to return, please.”
He condemned the attack in Kashmir, but despaired of the fallout on ordinary citizens like himself.
“Whatever the issues between the two governments, it is us who are bearing the brunt of it,” he said.
“We are caught in the middle of it, suffering.”
Japanese Foreign Minister to visit Saudi Arabia
- Iwaya Takeshi to visit Kingdom on April 30 and May 1
TOKYO: Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya will visit Saudi Arabia on April 30 and May 1 on a trip that will also take him to the United Nations in New York and Senegal in Africa.
Following on from the Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue in February, Iwaya will exchange views closely with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to discuss issues such as the situation in Gaza, Syria, Iran and the Red Sea, as well as strengthening coordination between Japan and Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official told Arab News Japan.
The official stated that Japan considers Saudi Arabia to be the leader of the Arab-Islamic world, as it is home to two of Islam’s holiest sites, Makkah and Madinah. Additionally, Saudi Arabia is the only Arab nation that is a member of the G20. With its abundant oil resources, the country plays a significant role in OPEC. “Given the current instability in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia serves as a crucial stabilizing force in the region and maintains a strong relationship with the United States,” he said.
Japan aims to strengthen its diverse economic relationship with Saudi Arabia, extending beyond their existing energy partnership. This visit is expected to speed up the efforts to finalize the Japan-GCC Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations that resumed last year. Additionally, Japan is committed to supporting Saudi Arabia’s goals for decarbonization and industrial diversification as part of “Saudi Vision 2030.”
Japan also acknowledges the role of Saudi Arabia in the international community, which seems to have strong connections with the Trump administration and Russia.
In February, the second Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue was held in Tokyo between Minister Iwaya and Minister Faisal. The most recent visit by a Japanese Foreign Minister to Saudi Arabia occurred in September 2023.
Japan’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has a long history, with Japan importing approximately 40 percent of its crude oil from Saudi Arabia. This makes Saudi Arabia Japan’s most important partner for energy security. As we approach the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2025, this visit is particularly significant, the Japanese official said.
In February, during Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal’s visit to Japan, the two countries signed an agreement to establish the “Strategic Partnership Council (SPC),” which will be co-chaired by the leaders of both nations.
“As we prepare for the SPC, the visit aims to reinforce cooperation in various areas, including politics, economy, security, and culture. The two countries will also solidify their collaboration for the upcoming Expo in Riyadh in 2030, which is a promising sign for the future of Japan-Saudi relations.”
Iwaya’s visit to the United Nations coincides with the final session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which takes place every five years. This event marks the first time in seven years that a Foreign Minister has attended such a meeting.
To ensure that next year’s NPT Review Conference produces positive results, Japan aims to take a leading role in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The country will advocate for dialogue and collaboration among states and parties to work towards creating a world without nuclear weapons, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Japan is actively engaging in discussions with UN officials to enhance collaboration with the United Nations, focusing on strengthening its functions and addressing global challenges.
Regarding its relationship with Senegal, Japan’s Foreign Ministry highlights that Japan and Senegal are strategically important partners. Japan is dedicated to contributing to the “Senegal 2050” initiative, emphasizing human resource development.
Senegal serves as a key base for Japanese companies in French-speaking West Africa. In 2024, oil and natural gas production began, resulting in an increase in the number of Japanese companies operating in Senegal.
Hundreds of thousands at funeral mourn pope ‘with an open heart’
- Some waited overnight to get a seat in the vast square in front of St Peter's Basilica, with the Vatican reporting some 250,00 people attended
- More than 50 heads of state were also present at the solemn ceremony, including Trump who met world leaders in a corner of the basilica beforehand
Vatican City: Hundreds of thousands of mourners and world leaders, including US President Donald Trump packed St. Peter’s Square on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis, “pope among the people” and the Catholic Church’s first Latin American leader.
Some waited overnight to get a seat in the vast square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, with the Vatican reporting some 250,00 people attended, in an outpouring of support for the Argentine pontiff.
More than 50 heads of state were also present at the solemn ceremony, including Trump — who met several world leaders in a corner of the basilica beforehand, notably Ukraine’s Volodomyr Zelensky, in their first face-to-face since their Oval Office clash in February.
The crowds applauded as the pope’s coffin was carried out of the basilica by white gloved pallbearers, accompanied by more than 200 red-robed cardinals, and then again as it was taken back after the approximately two-hour mass.
Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was “a pope among the people, with an open heart,” who strove for a more compassionate, open-minded Catholic Church, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in his funeral homily.
There was applause again from the masses gathered under bright blue skies as he hailed the pope’s “conviction that the Church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open.”
Francis sought to steer the centuries-old Church into a more inclusive direction during his 12-year papacy, and his death prompted a global outpouring of emotion.
“I’m touched by how many people are here. It’s beautiful to see all these nationalities together,” said Jeremie Metais, 29, from Grenoble, France.
“It’s a bit like the center of the world today.”
Italian and Vatican authorities mounted a major security operation for the ceremony, with fighter jets on standby and snipers positioned on roofs surrounding the tiny city-state.
After the funeral, the pope’s simple wooden coffin was put onto a white popemobile for a slow drive through the streets of Rome to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he will be buried.
The funeral sets off the first of nine days of official Vatican mourning for Francis, who took over following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.
After the mourning, cardinals will gather for the conclave to elect a new pope to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Many of Francis’s reforms angered traditionalists, while his criticism of injustices, from the treatment of migrants to the damage wrought by global warming, riled many world leaders.
Yet the former archbishop of Buenos Aires’s compassion and charisma earned him global affection and respect.
“His gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced persons are countless,” Battista Re said.
He recalled the first trip of Francis’s papacy to Lampedusa, an Italian island that is often the first port of call for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, as well as when the Argentine celebrated mass on the border between Mexico and the US.
Trump’s administration drew the pontiff’s ire for its mass deportation of migrants, but the president has paid tribute to “a good man” who “loved the world.”
Making the first foreign trip of his second term, Trump sat among dozens of leaders from other countries — many of them keen to bend his ear over a trade war he unleashed, among other subjects.
The White House said Saturday that the president had a “very productive” meeting with Zelensky before the funeral, while a second meeting was planned after, the Ukrainian presidency said.
Kyiv published a photo of the encounter, the two men sitting face to face in red and gold chairs in the basilica, as well as another showing Zelensky huddled with Trump, Britain’s Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
In the homily, Battista Re highlighted Francis’s incessant calls for peace, and said he urged “reason and honest negotiation” in efforts to end conflicts raging around the world.
“’Build bridges, not walls’ was an exhortation he repeated many times,” the cardinal said.
Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden also attended the funeral, alongside UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, and Lebanon’s Joseph Aoun.
Israel — angered by Francis’s criticism of its conduct in Gaza — sent only its Holy See ambassador. China, which does not have formal relations with the Vatican, did not send any representative.
Italian mourners Francesco Morello, 58, said the homily about peace was a “fitting, strong and beautiful message.”
Of the world leaders gathered, Morello noted: “He could not bring them together in life but he managed in death.”
Francis died of a stroke and heart failure less than a month after he left hospital where he had battled pneumonia for five weeks.
He loved nothing more than being among his flock, taking selfies with the faithful and kissing babies, and made it his mission to visit the peripheries, rather than mainstream centers of Catholicism.
His last public act, the day before his death, was an Easter Sunday blessing of the entire world, ending his papacy as he had begun it — with an appeal to protect the “vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants.”
The Jesuit chose to be named after Saint Francis of Assisi, saying he wanted “a poor Church for the poor,” and eschewed fine robes and the papal palace.
Instead, the Church’s 266th pope lived at a Vatican guesthouse and chose to be interred in his favorite Rome church — the first pontiff to be buried outside the Vatican walls in more than a century.
Catholics around the world held events to watch the proceedings live, including in Buenos Aires, where Francis was born Jorge Bergoglio in the poor neighborhood of Flores in 1936.
“The pope showed us that there was another way to live the faith,” said Lara Amado, 25, in the Argentine capital.
Francis asked to be put inside a single wooden coffin to be laid in a simple marble tomb, marked only with the inscription “Franciscus,” his name in Latin.
Francis’s admirers credit him with transforming perceptions of the Church and helping revive the faith following decades of clerical sex abuse scandals.
He was considered a radical by some for allowing divorced and remarried believers to receive communion, approving the baptism of transgender believers and blessings for same-sex couples, and refusing to judge gay Catholics.
But he also stuck with some centuries-old dogma, notably holding firm on the Church’s opposition to abortion.
Francis strove for “a Church determined to take care of the problems of people and the great anxieties that tear the contemporary world apart,” Battista Re said.
“A Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds.”
Bangladesh plans to send hundreds of troops to serve in Qatari forces
- Bangladesh’s chief adviser discusses deployment with Qatar leadership
- 6,000 Bangladeshi soldiers are already in service of Kuwait Armed Forces
DHAKA: Bangladesh is planning to send hundreds of soldiers to work for the Qatar Armed Forces, a government spokesperson said, following this week’s talks between the Qatari leadership and the head of the Bangladeshi interim government.
Bangladesh’s chief adviser, Prof. Mohammed Yunus, was in Doha from Monday to Friday to attend the Earthna Summit organized by the Qatar Foundation. On the sidelines of the summit, the Nobel-winning economist also held meetings with top Qatari officials.
Yunus discussed the deployment of Bangladeshi troops with Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar’s deputy prime minister and minister of state for defense affairs.
“An agreement was reached to send 725 members of the Bangladesh Armed Forces on deputation to work with the Qatar Armed Forces,” Azad Majumder, deputy press secretary to the chief adviser, told Arab News on Friday.
“During the discussion, our National Security Adviser Dr. Khalilur Rahman was also present. So, all our topmost responsible authorities held this discussion with Qatari authorities.”
As the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Yunus also oversees its defense portfolio. His caretaker administration assumed office in August last year, when former prime minister Sheikh Hasina quit and fled the country amid violent protests.
Talks between the Bangladeshi and Qatari armed forces will determine the structure of the team that will be dispatched from Bangladesh and identify areas where Qatar requires its expertise.
“It could be in sectors such as medical, infantry, engineering, etc. The details are still being worked out,” Majumder said.
“This is not a tough job for us, as Bangladesh already has this experience. For many years, Bangladesh has been sending soldiers to different UN missions. Bangladeshi armed forces members have also been serving in Kuwait for many years.”
Bangladeshi soldiers are known for contributing to UN peacekeeping missions, with more than 6,300 personnel currently deployed to 10 such operations worldwide.
Beyond these commitments, Bangladesh also engages non-UN international deployments, with its most prominent military presence being in Kuwait.
About 6,000 members of the Bangladesh Military Contingent are currently enlisted with the Kuwait Armed Forces, according to data from the Bangladeshi embassy in the Gulf state.
Kuwait has been recruiting soldiers from Bangladesh under a bilateral agreement with the Bangladeshi government since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
Initially, they were deployed to conduct extensive land mine clearance operations, but their responsibilities have expanded over the years to include engineering, construction, medical support and logistical assistance.
Poland says a Russian helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea
WARSAW: A Russian military helicopter of the Baltic Fleet violated Polish airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening, the Polish Armed Forces said on X on Saturday.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defense systems,” they added.
