- Some social media users shared well wishes while others questioned the deployment of a reported 5,000 police and military officers for the wedding
- Kaesang Pangarep’s previous interracial, interfaith relationship was left to much public scrutiny when it ended in 2021
Indonesian social media buzzed with excitement on Friday as President Joko Widodo’s youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, tied the knot with fiancee Erina Gudono.
Jokowi – as Widodo is popularly known – shared photos of the young couple’s Siraman ceremony.
“From our residence in Surakarta City, today, Friday 9 December 2022, we accompanied Kaesang Pangarep in undergoing a series of wedding processions with Erina Gudono.
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“Thank God, the procession of the Sungkeman and Siraman ceremonies went well and smoothly. We as a family ask for the blessing of the community so that the next procession can go well,” the president wrote in an Instagram post.
He also apologised for traffic interruptions and road-closures that may have been caused as a result of the wedding ceremony.
Kaesang is the youngest of three children. His eldest brother, Ghibran Rakabuming, serves as the mayor of Solo, and his brother-in-law, Bobby Nasution, is the mayor of Medan.
The 27-year-old Kaesang is a self-described “amateur YouTuber” and an entrepreneur, running a number of businesses including a food franchise called Sang Pisang.
Fiancee Erina, 25, works as a financial analyst at investment bank JP Morgan’s Jakarta offices. She also represented the city of Yogyakarta in the 2022 Puteri Indonesia national beauty pageant, finishing in the final 11 contestants.
Social media users shared their well-wishes for the couple’s marriage. “What a beautiful couple! Wishing them the best,” said one Instagram user. “Nice to see the wedding carrying the rich Javanese traditions,” said another.
Some users also questioned why after it was reported that at least 5,000 police and military officers were overseeing protection for the wedding.
“How much of the state’s facilities and funding are being used to have this wedding guarded by so much police?” a Twitter user questioned.
Kaesang’s previous relationship with university sweetheart Felicia Chew was left to much public scrutiny following their break-up in 2021.
Kaesang is a Javanese Muslim and Felicia, an ethnic Chinese Christian – which made them one of the few high-profile couples to be openly interracial and interfaith in a country where such relationships still raise eyebrows.
The incident caused a stir in Indonesia’s Chinese community, which makes up less than 2 per cent of the country’s population.
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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