The Genealogy of Luhut and Prabowo Subianto’s Relationship
On Saturday, February 3, 2024, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Kemenko Marves), via his Instagram account, announced that he is supporting Prabowo Subianto in the 2024 presidential election after he had helped Jokowi defeat Prabowo twice, in 2014 and 2019.
In this presidential election, when the peak of deciding the presidential and vice presidential candidates took place, Luhut was being treated in Singapore. But in Indonesia, two of his close associates — his sister Kartini and his nephew Pandu — who control all of Luhut’s businesses, chose to join Prabowo Subianto’s camp and are officially listed as part of the winning team.
Luhut and his family’s support for Prabowo was bound to happen, at least after Jokowi could no longer run for the presidency after the three-term option raised by some of his subordinates and cabinet coalitions, such as Muhaimin Iskandar, finally ran aground.
Here I will include the “genealogy” of Luhut and his family’s relationship with Prabowo through the words of his sister Kartini. And in Kartini’s speech, we will see the fact that circulation, friendship, and elite networks in Indonesia are narrow and small.
The following is the story of Luhut’s sister, and after the story, I will explain about their names and their relationship with Prabowo from then until now.
“…. At that time, Mr. Ali Moertopo visited Boston. The students gathered for a friendly gathering with him. Ciil and I were not invited. It seemed to be the case that every time a state official came and met with students, Ciil and I were never present. Nevertheless, we still lived our lives happily and were far from feeling left out. We had close friends who never questioned Ciil’s status. There were Anwar and Yuna, Drajad and Bianti, Nono Makarim and Tika, Zen Purba and Lis, Arief Budiman, Payaman Simandjuntak and Tjahaya, Soegiyanto Soegiyoko and Yati, Widigdo Sukarman and Itje, Boediono Sri Handoko, Ito Has Tampubolon, Aulia Pohan, and a host of others.
Gus Dur stopped by our apartment on Sacramento Street. He came in the morning to chat and have breakfast. That’s where I got to know Gus Dur, who was not only very intelligent but also full of humor. I remember well the dish I served for breakfast, which was fried rice with sunny-side-up eggs and empal. There were slices of tomato and cucumber instead of vegetables. When Gus Dur visited us, Cak Nur (Dr. Nurcholis Madjid) and Mas Amien (Prof. Dr. Amien Rais) were studying at the University of Chicago. It is interesting to mention here that my children, Pandu and Gita, received letters of recommendation to enter the University of Chicago from both Cak Nur and Mas Amien. When we applied for Pandu and Gita to attend Phillips Academy-Andover, it was Bang Ical (Aburizal Bakrie) who gave a special recommendation for our children. The same recommendation was also given by Bang Ical for Pandu when Pandu enrolled at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, for his MBA program. Meanwhile, Gita received a special recommendation from Pak Boediono (Prof. Dr. Boediono) when she enrolled at Wharton Business School in Philadelphia. Mr. Boed is a Wharton alumnus.
Prabowo once visited our house in Cambridge during a visit to his sister Bianti’s place. Ciil always felt that she clicked with Bowo and thought he should be an intellectual rather than a soldier. When Bowo stopped by the house, he was wearing an upside-down blue sweater. I told Bowo that his sweater was upside down. He laughed loudly and immediately took off the sweater. I have known Prabowo since I was in high school, introduced by Hok Gie (Soe Hok Gie). After that, I rarely met him. I only heard that Bowo entered the Indonesian Armed Forces Academy (AKABRI) to become a soldier. At one time, I met Bowo again when he was Bang Luhut’s deputy in Kopassus.
Bang Luhut had also visited me in Boston on his way from South America. Pandu was still a baby at the time. Mama was very happy to see her son come to see his nephew and sister. As I recall, Bang Luhut visited me twice in Boston during my college years. This visit from my brother was special to me because we were both very close to each other since childhood. That we also often differed and that I was also often stubborn towards my brother did not close the love between two people who were siblings.
Another experience I had while studying in Cambridge, Boston, was meeting some of the famous figures of the time who were in exile. These included Kim Dae Jung of South Korea and Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino who was assassinated a year later. Both of these figures were students of Prof. Samuel Huntington, and Ciil was also a student of, and close to, Prof. Huntington.”
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Explanation of the names of the figures and their relationship with Prabowo:
1. Ali Moertopo: Soeharto’s right-hand man, founder of CSIS, and the person assigned by Soeharto to persuade Soemitro Djojohadikusumo (Prabowo Subianto’s father) to return to Indonesia.
2. Bang Anwar (Anwar Nasution): Former Senior Deputy of BI and former Chairman of BPK RI.
3. Mas Drajad (Joseph Soedradjad Djiwandono): Former BI Governor, son-in-law of Sumitro Djojohadikusumo and brother-in-law of Prabowo Subianto. Now his son Thomas Djiwandono is the treasurer of Prabowo Subianto’s winning team, and his other son Budi Djiwandono is a member of the House of Representatives from Gerindra.
4. Bianti (Bianti Djojohadikusumo): Wife of Soedradjad Djiwandono, brother of Prabowo Subianto, mother of Thomas and Budi Djiwandono.
5. Nono Anwar Makarim: Owner of Makarim-Taira law firm and founder of LP3ES, cadre of Soemitro Djojohadikusumo (Prabowo’s father), father of the Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim, and brother-in-law of Maher Al Gadrie, a close friend of Prabowo Subianto.
6. Arief Budiman: Social scientist, originator of Golongan Putih (Golput) and brother of Soe Hok Gie, as well as a cadre of Soemitro Djojohadikusumo.
7. Aulia Pohan: Former Deputy of BI and a relative of President SBY.
8. Gus Dur (Abdurrahman Wahid): 4th President of Indonesia, friend of Prabowo Subianto.
9. Cak Nur (Nurcholish Madjid): Islamic thinker, founder of Paramadina.
10. Mas Amien (Amien Rais): Former Chairman of the MPR, former Chairman of PP Muhammadiyah, Founder of PAN, Founder of Ummat Party, friend of Prabowo, and supporter of Prabowo in the 2014–2019 presidential election.
11. Ical (Aburizal Bakrie): Former Menkokesra, former Chairman of KADIN, former Chairman of Golkar, friend of Prabowo since he was young and supporter of Prabowo’s candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.
12. Mr. Boed (Boediono): Former Vice President of the SBY era, cadre of Soemitro Djojohadikusumo (Prabowo’s father).
13. Hok Gie (Soe Hok Gie): Activist 66, Arief Budiman’s younger brother, Soemitro Djojohadikusumo cadre, and friend of Prabowo Subianto.
14. Bang Luhut (Luhut Binsar Panjaitan): Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, former Kopassus Danjen, Prabowo’s former boss, Prabowo’s former business partner, Prabowo’s former opponent, Prabowo’s partner in Jokowi’s Cabinet, and Prabowo Subianto’s supporter in the 2024 presidential election.
15. Ciil (Dr. Sjahrir): Prabowo’s good friend, mentor to Ahok and Rocky Gerung, cadre of Sumitro Djojohadikusumo (Prabowo Subianto’s father).
16. Kartini: Dr. Sjahrir’s wife, Luhut’s sister, Ambassador during SBY’s administration, and Prabowo’s supporter in the 2024 presidential election.
17.Pandu (Pandu Sjahrir): Son of Dr. Sjahrir and Kartini Panjaitan (Luhut’s sister), controller of all Luhut’s businesses, and Prabowo’s supporter in the 2024 presidential election.
18. Kim Dae Jung: Former President of Korea.
19. Benigno Aquino: Former Philippine presidential candidate, husband of Philippine President (Corazon Aquino) and father of Philippine President Ninoy Aquino.
20. Prof. Huntington (Samuel Huntington): Harvard’s leading political scientist.
