Jakarta – President-elect Prabowo Subianto said on Wednesday that once he is in office he will make an effort to display paintings by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the new presidential palace.
Speaking during an iftar dinner at the Democratic Party headquarters in Jakarta, Prabowo said that it was likely that he would put Yudhoyono's paintings on display at the planned presidential palace in Nusantara, the country's new capital in East Kalimantan.
"I can look for space for this painting. Probably in the new presidential palace," Prabowo said, after receiving a brand new painting from Yudhoyono, which he created as a gift to the president-elect.
The painting, "Standing Firm Like Rocks," depicting waves crashing into a pillar of rock, was dedicated by Yudhoyono to Prabowo and is a metaphor for the relationship between the two senior politicians as they face the prospect of collaboration in the future.
Upon receiving the painting, Prabowo said that he was honored and moved by the gesture. "I am so touched that you honor me in such a way. With your own hands, you gift me this," Prabowo said.
Soon after leaving office in 2014, Yudhoyono took up a new hobby of painting expressionist artworks in his free time. The artworks have frequently been featured in his social media posts.
While in office, Yudhoyono also developed his singing skills and released compilations of mostly slow ballads. Yudhoyono said it took him 10 hours to finish the new painting he dedicated to Prabowo.
Prabowo, a three-time presidential candidate, won the Feb. 14 presidential election with over 96 million of a total of roughly 164 million votes, according to the final count by the General Elections Commission.
The Democratic Party initially backed the candidacy of former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan with the expectation of the party chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono being picked as vice presidential candidate.
The party left Anies' electoral alliance after he picked National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar as running mate.
Yudhoyono's gamble paid off with Agus now serving as agrarian reform minister in the administration of outgoing President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.