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Thousands attend street parties to welcome new leaders
Party on!: The convoy of President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla passes along Jl
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span class="inline inline-center">Party on!: The convoy of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla passes along Jl. MH Thamrin in Jakarta on Monday. Thousands of people flocked to Jl. Thamrin to greet Jokowi and Kalla, who were sworn in Monday as Indonesia's new leaders. Antara/Zabur Karuru
Dewi Citrowati, a 33-year-old bank employee, waited with colleagues for more than two hours in the sweltering heat in front of her office building on Jl. MH Thamrin on Monday.
Her employer, like many others in office buildings along the thoroughfare, allowed their employees to extend their lunch break to join the throngs of people that had descended onto the street to celebrate the inauguration of the country's seventh president, Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, and Vice President Jusuf Kalla at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) building earlier in the day.
Various posters and banners ' some made by companies located in the area ' bearing congratulatory messages for the President, as well as messages for former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono like 'Thank You SBY', and defeated presidential candidate Gerindra Party chief patron Prabowo Subianto: 'Thank you Prabowo for letting go', adorned the street.
Dozens of food vendors, mostly offering mie bakso (meatball noodle soup), provided free food along the street from 8 a.m. and ran out of free meals by 2 p.m.
The much-awaited presidential convoy began its journey from the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle at 1:30 p.m.
Newly inaugurated Jokowi, Kalla, First Lady Iriana and Kalla's wife, Mufidah Kalla, later greeted tens of thousands of people assembled along the capital's main thoroughfare from two horse-drawn carri-ages after their inauguration.
Jokowi, Kalla and their respective wives rode in presidential vehicles from the MPR in Senayan, Central Jakarta, to the traffic circle in Central Jakarta. There, they disembarked and boarded the horse-drawn carriages ' with Jokowi and Kalla in the first carriage and Iriana and Mufidah in the second ' and continued to the Presidential Palace amid heavy security.
Jokowi and Kalla, wearing white shirts with the sleeves rolled up, got close to the cheering crowd and waved as Presidential Security Detail (Paspampres) guards and police officers attempted to maintain a safe distance between the open carriages and the throngs of cheering supporters.
Various art performances, including one by the Solo Batik Carnaval group hailing from the President's hometown of Surakarta, Central Java, as well as hundreds of supporters who unfurled two gigantic national flags, followed the presidential convoy on its way to the palace.
'We were starving and thirsty because we postponed lunch to see this,' Dewi said.
But it was worth it, she said.
'I was so close to them and I believe that Pak JK [Jusuf Kalla] waved at me. I can't believe that we finally got to this point after all of the political drama,' Dewi told The Jakarta Post.
Some of the crowd spilled into the front yard of the palace, which is usually a restricted area. People flocked to the front yard just after Yudhoyono left the palace compound; it appeared that a side gate near Jl. Veteran was open.
Some took pictures in front of the palace, while some just milled around.
About 15 minutes before Jokowi started two separate meetings with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in the afternoon, an announcement was made through loudspeakers that people were to immediately leave the palace's front yard.
Teguh Riski, a 28-year-old insurance company employee, said he did not want to miss the merriment despite the heat. 'This kind of celebration is unprecedented, so I wanted to witness it firsthand,' said Teguh, a native Jakartan.
Another office worker who observed the celebration from a bridge said, 'Look at this! I can't believe they are even thinking about returning the people's votes to the MPR,' he said, referring to rumors that Prabowo's Red-and-White Coalition plans to end direct presidential elections and return the power to the MPR, whose leadership is dominated by the coalition.
Lina, a physician and fan of the President, compared Jokowi to Indonesia's founding father and charismatic first president, Sukarno.
'I lived in the period when Sukarno had gone and now I see Jokowi. They were the only presidents who were so loved and admired by the people,' she said.
The series of celebratory events continued with dozens of artistes and musicians, including singer Syahrini and bands Nidji, Slank, Gigi and English band Arkarna, performing on stage at the National Monument (Monas) compound in Central Jakarta.
Dozens of paper lanterns were also released to mark the cele-bration.
Greeting the audience in the evening, Jokowi thanked all the people and called on them to work hard together for national prosperity.
