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The First Official Overseas Trip, Indonesian President Joko Widodo Visits Malaysia

The First Official Overseas Trip, Indonesian President Joko Widodo Visits Malaysia
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (left) and Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (right). Image: Liputan6.com

Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived today for a two-day official visit to Malaysia.

The special aircraft ferrying the president, popularly known as Jokowi, and his wife Iriana Joko Widodo, flew in from Bali and landed at the KL International Airport (KLIA) at 7.50pm.

Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu welcomed Jokowi at the Bunga Raya Complex. Also present was the Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia, Rusdi Kirana.

Keterangan Gambar (© Pemilik Gambar)
Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his wife Iriana Joko Widodo are greeted by Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu and his wife Normah Alwi after touching down at KLIA in Sepang August 8, 2019. Image: Bernama

 

Jokowi and his wife were in maroon traditional Balinese attire.

This is the first official visit abroad by Jokowi after having been re-elected for the second term in the presidential election on April 17.

The visit is expected to strengthen the existing strong bilateral relations between Malaysia and Indonesia.

According to Bernama, an official welcoming ceremony will be held tomorrow morning at the Perdana Square in Putrajaya, after which Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will have a meeting with Jokowi to discuss bilateral issues and cooperation, as well as exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Keterangan Gambar (© Pemilik Gambar)
President of Indonesia Joko Widodo were given an official welcome at Dataran Perdana, Putrajaya, Malaysia (9/8). Image: detik.com

 

Indonesian economist Dr Mahbubi Ali said Jakarta should tap Malaysia’s expertise in Islamic banking for their mutual benefit.

The head of economy, finance, awqaf and zakat, who is also Associate Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) Malaysia, said this aspect was seldom emphasised by the two administrations but is important for promoting the expertise as reference for other Islamic countries as comparable to that of the Middle East.

“Maybe in the economic aspect, we need to move forward as a region and jointly set up a regional centre for ASEAN to be a respected region like the European Union. This will strengthen the position of ASEAN and Asia in the context of Islamic finance. Malaysia and Indonesia can start cooperating to kick-start this move,” he said to Bernama. 

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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