Indonesian MPR Official Questions President's Order to Attend Khamenei Funeral

Bambang Wuryanto, widely known as Bambang Pacul and serving as the Vice Chairman of Indonesia's People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), has expressed surprise and questioned President Prabowo Subianto's decision to reportedly send MPR Chairman Ahmad Muzani to attend the funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Bambang Pacul emphasized the constitutional relationship between the President and the MPR Chairman, describing it as consultative rather than hierarchical.

"I haven't been informed. But if Mr. President sends the MPR Chairman, I don't think that's the mechanism," Bambang Pacul stated Tuesday at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta. He elaborated that as leaders of high state institutions, their interactions should be based on consultation, not command. "In our state administration, the leaders of state institutions consult with each other. There is no procedure for one to order the other," he explained.

Bambang Pacul further clarified that any decision by the MPR to send a representative in its institutional capacity must originate from a leadership meeting within the MPR itself. "If according to regulations, the MPR leadership meets. Then the MPR leadership meets, decides to give this and that consideration, then we offer condolences there," he said. He distinguished this from Ahmad Muzani potentially attending as a representative of the Gerindra party, rather than in his official capacity as MPR Chairman, stating, "If it's as a cadre, that's possible. But if acting as the Chairman of the MPR, then it's different."