Magelang – Sholeh, the owner of a five-foot meatball stall in Bandongan District, Magelang, was overjoyed. His stall was visited by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto on Monday (1/29) afternoon.
His five-foot stall became a stopping place for Jokowi and Prabowo to eat meatballs together after attending the inauguration of Graha Utama at the Military Academy (Akmil) in Magelang.
“Today, on January 29, Alhamdulillah, my stall was visited by unexpected guests, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Jokowi, and Mr. Prabowo were able to come to my stall in Bandongan,” said Sholeh happily.
Sholeh was very grateful that the event of eating together with the two of them went smoothly. According to him, Jokowi and Prabowo seemed to really enjoy his meatball dish with an added fresh coconut water.
Previously, he admitted that he was skeptical of his ability to prepare hundreds of orders for meatballs a day before Jokowi and Prabowo’s visit. In addition to preparing meatball dishes for the two of them, he also made 400 portions to be distributed for free to the residents.
“The day before, the Presidential Security Detail (Paspampres) came to me personally and asked for permission for the state guests to visit,” Sholeh said.
“I asked myself, can I prepare it or not? Actually, I was hesitant, but I was optimistic that I had to be able to and strong. It turns out that everything can run smoothly now,” he continued.
Sholeh also mentioned that his family was very happy to be able to take photos together with Jokowi and Prabowo. Moreover, he and his elementary school-aged son were very happy to have the opportunity to shake hands directly with Prabowo.
“We also shook hands with Mr. Prabowo. Here is the photo. Alhamdulillah, it was unexpected,” said Sholeh.
He assessed Prabowo’s figure, whom he met for the first time in person, as very kind and friendly. “From my personal opinion, he’s good. It can’t be expressed in words. He even ate my meatballs himself,” he explained.
Sholeh revealed that during the handshake, Prabowo wished for the success of his meatball business that he has been pioneering until now. “There were words of ‘success always’ (from Prabowo),” said Sholeh.
He also prayed that Prabowo could lead this country so that all parties could remain united.
“Mr. Prabowo, always be healthy and (hopefully) you can lead this country to remain united in diversity, Tunggal Ika,” he said.
At the location, not only Jokowi and Prabowo were there, but also several artists and Instagram personalities such as Raffi Ahmad, Nagita Slavina, Atta Halilintar, Ria Ricis, Lula Lahfah, Rachel Vennya, Salim Nauderer, Tara Budiman, Christian Bong, Celine Evangelista, and Aan Story. They all looked united in wearing plain white shirts. (SENOPATI)
