Vice President Jusuf Kalla has denied rumors saying he is being severely ill or suffering a stroke.
“Alhamdulillah (thanks God) I am healthy. I just had lunch with the President,” he told the media at the Vice President’s office, Jalan Merdeka Utara, Jakarta, on Friday (Aug. 25) afternoon.
In the morning, he added, he even chaired a meeting with the board of Alumni Association of Hasanuddin University Makassar (IKA Unhas) in his official residence. After that, he went to his office and performed the Friday prayers at the Baiturrahim Mosque in the Presidential Palace complex, Jakarta together with President Joko Widodo.
“There was a meeting this morning, and then I talked with Mr. President,” he said.
The day before, the Vice President was also in good health and ran his routines. Thursday (Aug. 24) morning, he officially opened the Village Development Forum 2017 at the Vice Presidential Palace in Jakarta. In the afternoon, he even took time to watch a football match between Indonesia against Cambodia in the SEA Games 2017 on television at his office.
“You all attended the event at (Vice Presidential Palace on Jalan) Merdeka Selatan, Village Development Forum, right? After that I received some guests, then watched football,” he told reporters.
Since last night, hoax has been circulating on social media saying the Vice President had a heart attack and was taken to Singapore. The news was imbued with a photo of the Vice President escorted by the secret service Paspampres on a plane.
The photographed image is actually a photo taken in 2015 when the Vice President observed a medical evacuation plane at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta, shortly before taking off to Manila, Philippines to attend the APEC Summit. (RN / FM, KIP Setwapres).
