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Jakarta Post

Veranda talk unites Jokowi and SBY

Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, March 9, 2017

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Veranda talk unites Jokowi and SBY President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) at the Merdeka Palace on Thursday. (JP/Haeril Halim)

E

ating snacks and drinking tea together, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) conveyed an image of friendship despite the high tension between the two in the past months.

After eating lunch together, Jokowi and SBY had a seven-minute chat on the veranda of Merdeka Palace on Thursday.

The body language and gestures of the two presidents indicated that their interaction was amicable.

Jokowi said that the two talked about various things, such as the nation's political and economic issues.

SBY also praised Jokowi's administration for the historic visit of Saudi Arabian monarch King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud earlier this month and hosting the recent 20th Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit in Jakarta.

Moreover, SBY said that the meeting was used for tabayyun (seeking clarification) between the two and that he wanted to do the best for the country and the government.

"We talked about [how to push] this country to go further. To realize a nation that upholds Pancasila and protects all of its citizens. He [Jokowi] made a commitment to build the country, as I and the other former presidents did," he told journalists at a joint press conference.

It was a highly anticipated meeting, as SBY had previously said he wanted to meet Jokowi, but the President's inner circle had prevented them from meeting.

SBY has several times publicly criticized Jokowi's administration amid the heated 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial elections, in which his eldest son Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono ran as a candidate and was knocked out in the first round.

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