November 25, 2023, 08:51 PM
Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, has been receiving treatment and recovering in Singapore General Hospital over the month of October.
While here, he was visited by current Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto.
Falling ill
On Oct. 10, Luhut shared on Instagram that he felt unusually tired after attending an activity and seeing that it was "abnormal", his wife took him to a hospital in Jakarta for an examination.
He said he was offered by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan to undergo his recovery in Singapore, as well as to undergo a more comprehensive evaluation of his condition.
Recovering in Singapore
Luhut has spent over a month in Singapore undergoing a "post-pain "recovery" process", he said in his Instagram post on Nov. 4.
In response to questions about why he is recovering in Singapore and not Indonesia, Luhut revealed that his treatment started in Indonesia. After discussing with friends and family, he decided to go to Singapore.
During his recovery, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, ministers and close friends visited him in his ward.
Jakarta Post reported that Prabowo, the current defence minister, also visited Luhut.
He said he was pleased that Luhut was eager to start working again.
Prabowo was recently in Singapore, where he received Singapore's highest military award from President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
In a more recent post on Nov. 18, Luhut shared that he was discharged from Singapore General Hospital three days prior.
"However, I'm not able to return to the motherland yet as I'm still undergoing treatment to ensure my condition is fully recovered,' he added in his post.
Fortunately, he is able to start working out again and doesn't feel much different from before. He joked that the only difference was that his hair colour needs polishing.
Difficult to put work aside
Luhut expressed his difficulty in putting work aside throughout his recovery in various Instagram posts.
"As a person who is used to working and (is) active, being in the hospital for a few days is really boring," he said in his post on Oct. 10.
He also revealed that his family and the medical team encouraged him not to use his phone to check for "breaking" news or have any guests for the first couple of days so that he could rest.
It seems like Luhut caught up with work as soon as he felt better, commenting on the 2024 Indonesian presidential election in an Instagram carousel on Oct. 25.
Prabowo is one of the candidates standing in the election, with Jokowi's son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as his running mate.
Luhut acknowledged the "doubts that arose" from Gibran's selection, but wrote: "However, we must always remember that every step taken by both of them, I believe they have sincere intentions to realise the vision of (an) advanced Indonesia."
He asked Indonesians to respect each other's views:
"As a diverse nation, criticism and suggestions are vital elements in our dynamics. But we still need to sort between constructive criticism and unproductive doubts. Even if in the end we have to have different views and choices, I want to invite, let's embrace the principle of "agree to disagree"."
What's happening in Indonesia's 2024 presidential election
Top images via luhut.pandjaitan/IG.
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