Magelang – Sholeh, the owner of a five-foot meatball stall in the Bandongan District, Magelang, received happiness. The reason is, his merchandise was visited by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, on Monday (29/1) 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) Magelang.
“Today, January 29th, Alhamdulillah, my stall had unexpected guests, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Jokowi, and Mr. Prabowo could come to my stall in Bandongan,” said Sholeh cheerfully.
Sholeh is very grateful that the meal with both of them went smoothly. According to him, Jokowi and Prabowo seemed to really enjoy his meatball creations with the addition of fresh coconut water.
Initially, he admitted that he doubted his ability to prepare hundreds of tendon meatball orders the day before Jokowi and Prabowo’s visit. In addition to preparing meatball dishes for both of them, he also made 400 servings to be distributed free of charge to the residents.
“The day before, the Presidential Security Detail from the central office came to me and asked for permission because there would be state guests,” Sholeh explained.
“I asked myself if I could prepare it or not. Actually, I was hesitant, but I was optimistic that I had to be able and strong. It turns out that everything is running smoothly now,” he continued.
Sholeh also shared that his family was very happy to have a photo taken with Jokowi and Prabowo. Moreover, he and his elementary school-aged child were very happy to have the opportunity to shake hands directly with Prabowo.
“I also shook hands with Mr. Prabowo. This is a photo of it. Alhamdulillah, it was unexpected,” said Sholeh.
He said that Prabowo, whom he met for the first time in person, was very kind and friendly. “From my personal perspective, he was good. It cannot be expressed in words. He also ate my meatballs,” he explained.
Sholeh revealed that during the handshake moment, Prabowo expressed his hopes for the success of the meatball business that he has been pioneering up to now. “He said always be successful (from Prabowo),” said Sholeh.
He also prayed that Prabowo could lead this country so that all parties would remain united.
“Mr. Prabowo, stay healthy and (hopefully) can lead this country to remain united in diversity, E Pluribus Unum,” he said.
At the location, not only Jokowi and Prabowo were present, but there were also a number of celebrities and social media influencers 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 compact wearing plain white shirts. (SENOPATI)
