JAKARTA, Oct 21 — Yesterday, Prabowo Subianto was inaugurated as Indonesia’s latest president — taking over from Joko Widodo.
However, during his inauguration at Istana Merdeka presidential palace here, a furry guest stole some attention away from him. Behold, his beloved cat: Bobby Kertanegara.
Video of the event showed Bobby sitting inside a light brown stroller that bore his name, along with other VIPs and guests.
“Do you want to see your new room, Bobby?” Prabowo could be heard asking the cat, in a video on the its Instagram account.
Among those charmed by Bobby was Indonesian magnate Anindya Novyan Bakrie, who also posted a photo with the cat on his Instagram account.
“At the palace, waiting for RI 1 with Bobby,” Anindya wrote, referring to the national car that would bring Prabowo to the event.
According to Jakarta-based paper Kompas, Bobby is a short-hair breed rescued by Prabowo at his residence in Kertanegara, Southern Jakarta back in 2017 — and therefore was given that name.
“Bobby is very spoiled. He is the ruler of Jalan Kertanegara IV. He is always by Prabowo’s side when at home, even during meetings.
“Before [Prabowo] leaves for Hambalang, he must pet and carry Bobby to calm him down,” Andre Rosiade, a member of Gerindra Party, was quoted saying in 2019. Hambalang refers to Prabowo’s hometown residence in Bogor, West Java.
The news outlet said that Bobby became popular among the public in 2018, after Prabowo was seen feeding the cat at a Gerindra Party internal meeting.
Bobby currently has over 537,000 followers on his Instagram account.
