Former TNI Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo Travels to US Prior to Travel Ban

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The retired Indonesian National Armed Forces Commander General Gatot Nurmantyo revealed the reason he visited the United States not too long ago was seemingly to test whether his passport would be accepted.

“I made a passport after I retired, not a work passport, but a normal one. I then submitted for a visa and I departed with my wife to test whether I was right, I was [able to enter the US],” said Gatot Nurmantyo at the Jakarta Convention Center on Tuesday, July 24.

The former TNI General once had his passport declined when he was still active in the military and was eventually barred from entering the United States at the time.

Gatot decided to take his wife with him and strolled to several US cities, one of it being New York City, where both stayed at one of Donald Trump’s hotels.

“I was just curious what a President’s hotel would look like, I stayed there but did not get a discount anymore,” said Gatot after a photo of him circulated in social media Twitter at the moment Gatot was exiting front the Trump Tower lobby.

According to Gatot Nurmantyo`s twitter feed on Thursday, July 5, his visit to the United States was initially to pay visit to the construction of the Nur Inka Nusantara Madani Pondok Pesantren (Islamic boarding school), which is said to be first one in the United States that is managed by the American Muslim community Nusantara Foundation.

FRISKI RIANA