JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto declared his grandfather a national hero on Tuesday (Nov 10), a year after honouring his former father-in-law, deceased dictator Suharto, despite objections over his human rights record.
In a decree issued on the national Heroes' Day, Prabowo's paternal grandfather Margono Djojohadikusumo joined a list of over 200 luminaries including the country's first president and several women's rights and independence activists.
Candidates for the posthumous title are proposed by a committee and approved by the president.
The honour comes with an annual stipend for the family of some 50 million rupiah (about US$2,770).
Margono, born in 1894, was a member of a committee that helped lay the groundwork for Indonesian independence from Japanese colonial rule.
He was also the founder and president of Bank Negara Indonesia, the first bank established following Indonesia's 1945 independence and the issuer of the country's first official currency.
Tuesday's decree called Margono "a national hero in politics and economics" who "made extraordinary contributions to the struggle for independence".
Last year, Prabowo ignored rights groups' protests to grant national hero status to Suharto, who died aged 86 in 2008. Suharto was the father of Prabowo's ex-wife.
He had governed Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades after grabbing power in 1967 following a failed military coup, his rule marred by corruption allegations and crackdowns on political dissent.
Activists and NGOs filed a lawsuit in a Jakarta court to challenge Suharto's national hero status. No judgment has been issued. - AFP
