A cheering mammoth crowd welcomed King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia to Indonesia yesterday. The first tie in 50 years that the Saudi monarch will be visiting the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
The visit is to seek stronger economic ties between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. The Saudi monarch- who was accompanied by about 1,000 people travelling on several aircraft, including princes and ministers — disembarked from his plane using an escalator as he arrived at an airport in Jakarta, his latest stop on an Asian tour.
The 81-year-old was received by President Joko Widodo and Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian who is standing trial for blasphemy.
Widodo hailed Salman’s trip as “historic” and said he hoped it could lead to closer economic ties. “As the country with the biggest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia will always have a special bond with Saudi Arabia,” he told the king at the palace.
Salman said he hoped the visit would “contribute to the improvement of the bilateral relationship between our two countries”.
The visit — the first by a Saudi Arabian king to Indonesia for 47 years — is one of the highlights of a rare Saudi royal tour of Asia which is seeking investment as the world’s biggest oil exporter tries to diversify its economy.
Preparations have been elaborate. Naked statues at the Bogor palace were covered up before Salman’s arrival, while local media reported that 150 chefs had been hired to cook for the king’s party and a VIP toilet had been specially built at a major mosque he will visit.
The monarch and his entourage will reportedly stay in five luxury hotels in Bali for several days following the visit to Jakarta.
Business deals could be announced, and a series of cooperation memoranda are also set to be signed on issues ranging from security, to health and education. The king is due to give a speech to parliament on Thursday.
Indonesia will also seek approval to send more citizens to the annual hajj pilgrimage in western Saudi Arabia, which is home to Islam’s holiest sites.
King Salman kicked off his three-week Asian tour in Malaysia earlier this week, and is also set to visit Japan, China and the Maldives.
