United Under Red and White
Almost all newspapers on Aug. 30, 2018, printed the photograph of President Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto embracing each other in a group hug, draped by a large red-and-white flag.
Indonesian pencak silat fighter Hanifan Yudani Kusumah celebrates his joy to win a gold medal in the final of the men’s Class C pencak silat event by hugging President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto, who is also the Indonesian Pencak Silat Association (IPSI) chairman, at Taman Mini Indonesia in Jakarta on Wednesday (29/8/2018).
Almost all newspapers on Aug. 30, 2018, printed the photograph of President Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto embracing each other in a group hug, draped by a large red-and-white flag.
It was Indonesia pencak silat athlete Hanifan Yudani Kusumah, a gold medalist in the 2018 Asian Games, who had united the two national figures. “I just want pencak silat to unite the nation,” Hanifan said later. Several elite political figures witnessed the historic moment when politics was set aside and opposing camps united under sports.