Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – October 13, 1994

They woke me up for prayer at 5:00 in the morning, near sunrise. We were flying over the Bay of Bengal. I slept again. We landed at Halim Jakarta Airport at around eleven o'clock Jakarta time. The time difference with Tehran is three and a half hours. At the airport, [Mr. Ali al-Attas], the Minister of Foreign Affairs, had arrived. Guests were officially welcomed inside the Independence Palace, so there was no ceremony at the airport except for the presentation of flower bouquets.

We all went to Esteghlal Palace - Merdeka - in Esteghlal Grand Square. Mr. Suharto, [Indonesian President] and the cabinet and the resident council were ready to welcome him there. A military ceremony with playing 21 cannons and performing the Iranian and Indonesian anthems and then the passing of the members

The cabinet and the Indonesian elders were in front of me, and the handshake and introduction of the Jakarta resident table was done. Then we had a short meeting with my companions for introduction and brief negotiation.

We walked together to the building of our residence in the same palace. He explained that the palace was left over from the time of Dutch colonialism. The headquarters of the Dutch "Dutch" governor and several buildings were added in other parts of the garden. It has big and old trees that are said to be 170 years old like the palace.

They are upset about the delay in the rain and said that some of the rice crop was wasted and fortunately, it rained well this evening, which was interpreted as our luck. They had left the evening to rest, and we have come from a long way.

At half past four, we went to pay our respects to the martyrs and their heroes. On the way, they explained that they had many martyrs in the war with the Japanese and the Dutch, who were buried in that place, and other heroes were also buried there after that date. Because of the rain, they had changed the shape of the ceremony.

We returned to the residence. In the evening, Mr. [Terry] Sutrisno, the Vice President came. He was chosen to accompany Mr. Suharto and it was said that they are raising him after Suharto's resignation. At night, there was a dinner party in the big luxurious hall of the Independence Palace. Before dinner, gifts were exchanged in front of reporters.

I asked many questions at dinner; Regarding energy, gas and oil, he said that they produce about 20 million tons of liquefied gas, and he said that this hall belonged to a sugarcane factory in the past, which he handed over to the Dutch governor. During the dinner ceremony, the men's music group performed a program and sang a good Iranian song. I encouraged them. After dinner, he and I had a talk. Their dinner was simple. Then they had a program of local dances; All were chosen because of us, men. Then we came to the residence and slept.

In the reports, the hostage taking of an Israeli soldier by Hamas, as well as the continuation of the Iraq issue, are of great interest. The news of the crash of an Iranian F-28 plane on the way from Isfahan to Tehran and the death of 66 people saddened us, and the cancellation of our trip to India had bad repercussions, which I am affected by.