President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo finally met with his erstwhile opponent Prabowo Subianto on Saturday, but tensions remain as supporters and allies of the Gerindra Party chairman maintain their staunchly anti-Jokowi stance.

In their first public meeting since the presidential election in April, Jokowi and Prabowo shook hands at Lebak Bulus Station in South Jakarta before taking a ride together on the country’s first MRT line, which began operations in March.

In what was evidently a highly orchestrated affair, the two sometime-rivals wore matching white shirts, chatted privately in a closed car from Lebak Bulus to Senayan Station and had brunch together for half an hour at a restaurant at the FX Sudirman mall in Central Jakarta.

As Jokowi and Prabowo got off the train at Senayan Station, people around them chanted "we love you” to express their affection toward the two figures.

While the former general had been combative during and after the election, accusing the Jokowi camp of massive election fraud and contesting the results at the Constitutional Court, Prabowo cut a much more conciliatory figure during the meeting.

"[Jokowi] said we are friends, and that is the truth. If we sometimes compete and criticize each other, that is because of political and democratic demands," he said at a press conference after the meeting.

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