Indonesia president-elect recovering from leg surgery

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JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto has undergone leg surgery but is continuing to work as he recovers, a spokesman said yesterday.

The defence minister and former general, who had suffered for years from a limp attributed to parachuting accidents, underwent surgery on his left leg at the National Defence Central Hospital in Jakarta, his team said.

Specifics of the procedure were kept under wraps, but Prabowo, who succeeds President Joko Widodo in October, described the surgery as “full of risks” in a social media post.

He has since resumed his duties as defence minister and was in attendance at an anniversary celebration for Indonesian police on Monday, Prabowo spokesman Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak told AFP.

“He is now very fit. [His leg] has healed and is much better now,” Dahnil said.

Pictures shared to both men’s official Instagram accounts on Sunday showed the president, popularly known as Jokowi, visiting a bathrobe-clad Prabowo while he was still in hospital.

“I was aware and understood that the medical procedure I was undergoing was full of risks and my life was at stake,” Prabowo wrote in his accompanying caption.

PHOTO: AFP