Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 17 april 2019

Indonesia candidates: Metal fan, cleric, soldier, tycoon

Associated Press ___ PRABOWO SUBIANTO
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) MA’RUF AMIN Subianto, a former special
— Indonesia’s presidential One of the most important forces general who was dis-
election Wednesday pits religious figures in Muslim- missed from the military in
incumbent Joko Widodo majority Indonesia, Amin 1998, is making his second
against former special forc- was selected as Widodo’s run at the presidency after
es Gen. Prabowo Subianto running mate to shore up narrowly losing to Widodo
in a repeat of the 2014 con- his support among pious in 2014. A strident national-
test. Widodo, a furniture ex- Muslims. He was chairman ist, he has run a fear-based
porter and heavy metal fan of Majelis Ulama Indone- campaign, highlighting
who had a meteoric rise in sia, the country’s council what he sees as Indone-
Indonesian politics, chose of Islamic leaders, and su- sia’s weakness and the risk
a conservative Muslim cler- preme leader of Nahdlatul of exploitation by foreign
ic as his vice presidential Ulama, the world’s largest powers or disintegration.
candidate. Subianto’s run- This combination photo taken on Saturday, April 13, 2019, left, Muslim organization. Subianto, 67, has some-
ning mate is a self-made and Sunday, April 7, 2019, right, show Indonesian President But an avuncular persona times highlighted a novel
tycoon. Joko Widodo, left, and his challenger in the upcoming election belies Amin’s reactionary about a future world war
A look at the presidential Prabowo Subianto during their campaign rallies in Jakarta, beliefs. that briefly mentions Indo-
and vice presidential can- Indonesia. Amin, 76, has been a vocal nesia as part of the basis for
didates: Associated Press supporter and drafter of those fears. He was a star
___ to the presidency in 2014. threatens powerful institu- fatwas against religious mi- officer during the Suharto
JOKO WIDODO Widodo, 57, was likened tions such as the military. norities and LGBT people. era and married the dicta-
Usually known as Jokowi, to Barack Obama, and Instead he has emphasized Human Rights Watch says tor’s daughter.
Widodo began his political progressive voters hoped nationalism while also fend- the fatwas, or edicts, have After Suharto was forced
career in the central Java- that as the first Indonesian ing off attacks that he is in- legitimized increasingly from office by social and
nese city of Solo and hit the president from outside the sufficiently Muslim. hateful rhetoric by govern- economic chaos in 1998,
big time when he became Jakarta elite he would ad- Widodo’s signature policy ment officials against LGBT Subianto was dismissed
governor of Jakarta, Indo- dress a catalog of major has been improving Indo- people, and in some cases from the military. Soldiers
nesia’s capital, in 2012. A human rights abuses in the nesia’s poor infrastructure. fueled deadly violence by under his command had
down-to-earth style and country. But while in office, He also continued the pov- Islamic militants against re- kidnapped student activ-
reputation for clean gover- he has been unwilling to erty alleviation policies of ligious minorities. ists, some of whom remain
nance helped propel him press for accountability that his predecessor. ___ missing.q

Russian court grants early release to would-be IS bride

By NATALIYA VASILYEVA At least 4,000 Russian citi- share the radical ideology
Associated Press zens, mostly from predomi- of the IS. Her father had
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian nantly Muslim regions, have pleaded with the court to
court on Tuesday granted traveled to Syria and Iraq acquit Karaulova, saying
parole to a Moscow stu- to join IS. Philosophy major that he was seeking help
dent who was sent to prison Karaulova, from a middle- from Russian authorities
for trying to join the Islamic class, non-Muslim Moscow by filing a missing person’s
State group in Syria. family, was unusual among report, not vengeance
The court in Russia’s north- Russian IS recruits who typi- against his daughter.
west upheld Varvara cally hailed from impov- Karaulova, who was ex-
Karaulova’s plea to cut erished provincial back- pelled from university short-
her prison sentence by In this file photo taken on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016, Varvara grounds in the North Cau- ly after her arrest, told the
one year and 10 days. The Karaulova, who was detained last year in Turkey as she was casus. court on Tuesday that her
23-year old Moscow State reportedly trying to cross the border into Syria, sits in a cage in Karaulova, a convert to trip to Turkey was “the most
University student was sen- the Moscow District Military Court in Moscow, Russia. Islam, insists that she fell in foolish thing I have ever
tenced to 4½ years in pris- Associated Press love with a man she met done in my life and the one
on in December 2016. where she was trying to ther filed a missing person’s online and wanted to mar- I’m still punishing myself
She was arrested in Turkey, cross into Syria after her fa- report. ry him in Syria but did not for.”q