Sleman Prepares 1,000 Students to Welcome Prabowo and Modi Despite Presidential Instruction
The Sleman Regency Government has prepared 1,000 students to welcome Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Special Region of Yogyakarta on Wednesday (8/7), despite the students currently being on school holidays following the distribution of report cards.
“We have prepared a thousand primary and junior high school students,” said Sleman Education Agency Head Mustadi when contacted on Tuesday (7/7).
He stated that the students will be stationed at the exit gate of Adisutjipto Airport in Sleman, Yogyakarta. They will be divided into two shifts to welcome and see off the two leaders. Mustadi explained that 500 students will welcome the arrival of Prabowo and Modi before they head to Prambanan Temple at around 10:00 WIB. The remaining 500 students will be positioned for their return to the airport at around 12:00 WIB. According to the plan, the students will wear traditional Javanese attire.
Mustadi said the preparation of the thousand students was a directive from the central government. He admitted that this was carried out based on instructions from the Presidential Secretariat, which were followed up through a regional coordination meeting. “It came from the Presidential protocol, there is no initiative from the regional government, this is all directly from the Presidential protocol,” Mustadi said.
Mustadi acknowledged that the deployment coincides with the school holiday period. However, he said the regional government felt obliged to carry out the instructions from the centre. “The principle is that because it is an instruction from above, the regional government welcomes the order and we must condition it. So we have to coordinate with the coordinators, school principals, and supervisors so we can carry it out, that is the gist of it,” he added.
Furthermore, Mustadi is aware of Prabowo’s previous request to all regional heads not to deploy school students to welcome him during working visits. That statement was made by Prabowo during the inauguration of the Kabanaran Bridge in Bantul, Yogyakarta, on 19 November last year. However, Mustadi stressed that the Sleman Regency Government is simply trying to comply with the Presidential Secretariat’s instructions. “I do not know the basis for the welcome, but the reality is that the Presidential Secretariat instructed it that way, and it has been like that since yesterday,” he said. “Then the Regent gave the order, I was summoned by the regent, along with the public relations and protocol team and other regional apparatus organisations, so I prepared it. Since last night and today we have been getting it ready, the point is that it is all conditioned,” Mustadi stated.