Residents Crowd The Front Area Of The Aceh Nation's Hope Stadium Wait For Jokowi

Residents crowded the main gate front area at Harapan Bangsa Stadium, Lhong Raya to welcome President Jokowi's arrival at the opening of PON XXI Aceh-North Sumatra 2024/ANTARA/Risky Syukur

BANDA ACEH - Residents crowded the front area of the main gate at Harapan Bangsa Stadium, Lhong Raya to welcome President Jokowi's arrival which will open the Aceh-North Sumatra National Sports Week (PON) 2024.

According to ANTARA's observation at the location, residents covered the left and right lanes of Jalan Sultan Malikul Saleh to wait for President Joko Widodo's arrival.

As of 19.45 WIB, Monday, September 9, the convoy of terrace-jebat vehicles has entered the area of the Harapan Bangsa Stadium.

Residents waiting seemed to be cheering as a group of cars entered the stadium area.

The sorakan residents immediately disappeared after learning that the car group was not President Jokowi's entourage.

Ruslan (56), a food trader from Medan, admitted that he came to Aceh, especially in front of the Harapan Bangsa Stadium, to sell.

He admitted that he had often seen Jokowi through television, but had never seen the number one person in Indonesia in person.

Therefore, he joined the residents to wait for Jokowi's arrival.

"So far, I've been watching it all the time, but via TV, I've never seen it in person. That's why I want to see it first hand," Ruslan told reporters.

PON 2024 will be the first PON to be held in two provinces simultaneously.

At least 13,000 will compete in 1,042 match numbers in 65 sports and 87 disciplines, in 20 districts and cities in Aceh and North Sumatra until September 20.

Four new autonomous regions (DOB) covering Southwest Papua, Mountains Papua, Central Papua, and South Papua made their PON debut, along with the Nusantara Capital (IKN) contingent.