10-year-old girl born without legs receives wheelchair from President Jokowi after writing him heartwarming letter

President Joko Widodo has made giving away bicycles to children during his visits throughout the country one of his signature moves, but one little girl from Pekanbaru, Riau, received an altogether different gift from the president that she was desperately in need of.

Recently, 10-year-old Bulan, who was born without legs, shot to viral fame after she wrote a letter addressed to President Jokowi asking him for a wheelchair, as her family couldn’t afford one. In the letter, which was dated March 16 and posted to Bulan’s Instagram account, the girl started by wishing Jokowi health and happiness before going on to make her request.

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“I often see you on TV giving away bicycles to children. I want one too, sir, but not a bike. I would like a wheelchair because I don’t have legs,” she wrote.

“The wheelchair would be for my daily activities.”

The letter evidently caught Jokowi’s attention because on Tuesday afternoon, to Bulan’s surprise, a wheelchair from the president was waiting for her at her school.

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“This is the wheelchair I dreamed of. I hope I can shake your hand and kiss it so I can thank my president directly. I hope the wheelchair you gave me will remind of my responsibility to be a good person,” she wrote in the caption.

Purwanti, Bulan’s mother, said her daughter is a strong and patient child despite often being bullied at school because of her disability. Purwanti said that Bulan had asked her for a wheelchair — a request she hadn’t been able to fulfill on her own.

“I always told her to be patient, we don’t have the money yet,” Purwanti told Kompas.

While Jokowi has been able to bring joy for Bulan, questions should also be raised as to why the girl and her family were not able to get a wheelchair as part of the government’s disability assistance program. In fact, in 2016, Jokowi doubled the government’s budget for disabled aid to almost IDR10 trillion (US$727 million).

Considering the many disabled Indonesians in need of aid, Jokowi obviously can’t be expected to personally help each and everyone of them personally when their stories go viral, as much of a golden PR opportunity as they might represent.