TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi distributed Eid parcels around the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday, April 8, 2024. Through the Presidential Secretariat, 1,000 bags of food were distributed to online motorcycle taxi (Ojol) drivers and residents passing along the Medan Merdeka Utara Road.

A number of staff and presidential guards prepared the packages since 15:30 around the entrance of the Merdeka Palace. Dozens of Ojols could be seen lined up all the way to the Supreme Court office, which is about two kilometers from the palace.

Jokowi did not distribute the packages directly. The president only stood outside the palace doors for a few minutes, briefly waving to reporters.

When asked if Jokowi did not symbolically provide the basic necessities because of the uproar over social assistance, the head of the presidential secretariat, Heru Budi Hartono, denied it.

Jokowi's social assistance program had been criticized, accused of being a strategy to help Prabowo Subianto and his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka win the 2024 presidential election.

"This is something that the president's always does towards end of Ramadan and ahead of Eid," said Heru Budi, who is also the acting governor of Jakarta. Heru said Jokowi also distributed basic necessities at the presidential palace in Bogor last week.

One of the ojol drivers that received the parcels, Ramadani, said he heard about the package distribution from a WhatsApp group for online motorcycle taxi ordering applications. He said that he was very happy to receive the package containing rice, oil, sugar, and biscuits.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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