Officials and regular people visit Susilo at State Palace

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

State officials and their spouses as well as lower-income people waited for up to two hours in front of the State Palace on Sunday to greet President Susilo Bambang on the first day of Idul Fitri.

Several Cabinet ministers, legislators and other high-ranking officials, wearing their Sunday best, had to wait for more than 45 minutes to meet the president after the palace was opened at 9:30 a.m.

"We have to delay the schedule from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. as the President is still visiting Cipinang penitentiary," said a palace spokesperson, to the disappointment of the waiting officials.

However, they continued to wait, with some wiping beads of sweat off their brows on numerous occasions.

The long line began to move briskly as palace door was opened with Susilo, First Lady Kristiani Herawati and son Agus Harymurti standing at the center of the foyer to greet guests.

Aside from Cabinet members, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono, Golkar Party leader Akbar Tandjung and former Golkar presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto were among the guests.

A handful of legislators were seen among the well-wishers, but only two legislators -- Noviantika Nasution and Roy B.B Janis -- from former president Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) were seen among the guests.

Vocal PDI-P executive Kwik Kian Gie and former PDI-P leader Haryanto Taslam also came to greet Susilo, who defeated PDI-P's Megawati in the election on Sept. 20.

The original schedule for high-ranking officials was between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., but the guests had already come and gone by around 12 noon.

In the afternoon, some 2,000 regular people -- some wearing rubber sandals and sarongs -- came to greet the President. Unlike high-ranking officials in the morning, who waited for around 45 minutes, everyone else had to wait under the scorching sun for almost two hours.

And so, when palace staff finally invited the people in at around 1 p.m., at least seven persons had fainted.

On their way, officials handed out snacks and drinks for the people who had been waiting for hours to meet Susilo.

Palace officials said they had expected some 5,000 people, but only around 2,000 showed up.

The annual tradition for VIPs to receive guests during Idul Fitri started during the leadership of former president Soeharto, who used the meetings to show that he was really supported by the people.

Soeharto was forced to resign in May 1998 after leading the country for more than three decades. The practice lingered on even after Soeharto's fall.

Meanwhile, former president Megawati was also busy at her residence on Jl.Teuku Umar on Sunday morning and at Kebagusan later that day welcoming well-wishers.

Akbar, Agung and Prabowo immediately went to her residence on Jl. Teuku Umar after greeting Susilo at the Palace.

Several Cabinet ministers also came to greet her. They were Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa.

The three were also members of Megawati's Cabinet from July 2001 to October 2004.

Some ambassadors from neighboring countries also came to greet Megawati, still the PDI-P leader.