PREPARATIONS FOR WEDDING OF JOKOWI'S ONLY DAUGHTER COMPLETED by Fardah

Jakarta, Nov 1, 2017  (Antara) - Kahiyang Ayu, the only daughter of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), will get married to her university sweetheart Bobby Affif Nasution in her hometown Solo, Central Java, on Nov 8 this year.        
    Ayu and Bobby Nasution are both aged 26 and students of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). The duo had dated for a year and got engaged in June 2017.

         "My sister will get married on Nov 8," Gibran Rakambuming Raka, Jokowi's eldest son, had informed the press at the president's private residence in Solo or Surakarta last September.

         Speaking as the spokesman of his family, Raka was accompanied by Ayu and First Lady Iriana during the press conference.

         The wedding ceremony will follow Javanese traditions, and preparations for the wedding have been completed.

         The Graha Sabha Buana Hall, owned by the Jokowi family and located near his private home in Solo, will serve as the venue for the wedding ceremony, and the food will be provided by catering company Chili Pari owned by Raka.

         "One of the dishes to be served is martabak," Raka said as quoted by tempo.co.

         The 30-year-old entrepreneur is no stranger to the popular Indonesian pancake, as he also owns cafe Martabak Kota Barat, or Markobar, having outlets in several cities across Indonesia.

         Both martabak manis, or sweet pancake, and martabak telur, or stuffed fried pancake, will be served at the wedding. The pancake delights will be prepared at the venue.

         "Guests will be able to witness the cooking process," Raka added.

         Ayu's elder brother said the media will be given access to cover the ceremony, adding that he will set up a media center for the event.

         "Do not worry. We will set up a media center for the journalists. It will be operational in the run-up to the wedding," Raka told reporters.

         Ayu, or Ayang, was born in 1991. She has completed an undergraduate degree in food technology at the state-run Sebelas Maret University in Solo. She has attended a postgraduate degree course at IPB since 2015.

         Bobby Nasution is the third or youngest son of Erwin Nasution, former executive director of state-owned plantation holding company PT Perkebunan Nusantara II, who passed away in January this year.

         He has two elder sisters: Mayang Sari Nasution and Inge Amelia Nasution.

         Bobby Nasution had received his undergraduate degree in agribusiness from the Faculty of Agribusiness and Management at the IPB in 2014.
    Nasution is now a postgraduate student in Business Management Magister of the IPB.  
    Jokowi said he is looking forward to his daughter's wedding and is excited to be a member of a big Batak family, as his future son-in-law is an ethnic Batak from Medan, North Sumatra.

         President Jokowi led the final meeting on the wedding preparations in Solo on Oct 29. Following the meeting, he confirmed that all preparations were completed.

         The meeting was attended by Minister/State Secretary Pratikno, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Solo Mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo, and Commander of the Diponegoro Military Command Major General Tatang Sulaiman, among others.

         "Everything is set, and we just need to distribute the invitations," Jokowi informed the media.

         He revealed that there will be some eight thousand invitees, more than double the number of people invited to his eldest son's wedding held at the same venue in 2015.

         Some three thousand people, including high-ranking officials, vendors, and pedicab drivers, were invited to Raka's wedding.
    "All volunteer organizations will be invited. Some have 50 members, while others have 100, and there are also up to 500 members," Jokowi said while referring to the invitations sent out to his supporters.

         "For the upcoming wedding reception, the general public is also invited," Jokowi revealed.

         On Oct 31, President Jokowi along with his wife and daughter had visited Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla's residence on Diponegoro Street, Central Jakarta, to extend a wedding invitation and to request him to be a witness at his daughter's wedding ceremony.

         "It is a tradition. I am very honored to be a witness at this wedding ceremony of the president's daughter," Kalla stated.

         According to Kalla, Coordinating Minister for Economic affairs Darmin Nasution will also be a witness at the ceremony.

         Darmin Nasution has been requested by the groom's family to be a witness at the wedding ceremony, as he belongs to the same clan as the groom. 
    The groom's family will also organize a reception for Ayu and Bobby Nasution in Medan on November 26, 2017. Ayu will be given the honorary Batak family name - Siregar.     ***4***
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(T.F001/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 01-11-2017