Jakarta. Former Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Ferry Mursyidan Baldan was found dead inside his car at a Jakarta hotel on Friday afternoon, police said.
His body was found on the driver's seat of his Nissan Teana sedan at 1:43 p.m., Jakarta Police spokesman Chief Comr. Endra Zulpan told reporters.
The car was parked near the lobby of Bidakara Hotel in Tebet, South Jakarta.
Family members said Ferry came to the hotel on Thursday to attend an event and they haven't heard from him since.
"The family came to the hotel on Friday and coordinated with the hotel's security members to find him. Soon afterward, the family was informed that Ferry had been found inside his car," Endra said.
The car's door was unlocked but Ferry, 61, had been dead by the time he was found.
Endra said that based on testimonies from family members, Ferry had a history of hypertension and diabetes. The family didn't want an autopsy of the body, he added.
Ferry was appointed minister when President Joko Widodo began his first term in October 2014 but he was dismissed in July 2016. In the 2019 presidential election, Ferry jumped ship to the president's political opponent Prabowo Subianto.
