Grand $9m Indonesian wedding attended by Jokowi causes stir in light of Covid-19 restrictions

President Joko Widodo's presence at a grand 100 billion rupiah (S$9 million) wedding by one of Indonesia's most popular YouTubers, Atta Halilintar, has raised questions in light of the country's Covid-19 restrictions on public gatherings.

The wedding on April 3, televised all over Indonesia, had prominent guests such as Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto and many other members from the House of Representatives.

In this video, Widodo and wife Iriana can be seen arriving at the event before they sat with six other distinguished guests – while the wedding couple sat beside them.

As reported in the South China Morning Post, Halilintar, 26, supposedly earns S$2 million a month from his YouTube channel with over 27 million subscribers. His wife, singer and model Aurelia Hermansyah, 22, has over 20 million Instagram followers.

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CNOmY8Yh1PJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link[/embed]

In an Instagram post written in Bahasa Indonesia, he shared that Jokowi and Prabowo were the key witnesses to their solemnisation – as is custom in Islam – representing himself and his wife respectively.

During a news conference at the Raffles Jakarta hotel, Halilintar said: "We want this happy moment to be witnessed by great figures in our country.

"We want to show that we're serious about our wedding. So my side of the family is represented by Mr Jokowi, and Aurel's side of the family is represented by Mr Prabowo."

However, this wedding was not without controversy as criticism on social media soon surfaced.  

Banyak paradoks di negeri ini. Mudik dilarang, tapi destinasi wisata buka serempak. Penutupan jalan raya, tapi malah macet di sana-sini. Izin resepsi masyarakat dipersulit, tapi pernikahan seleb dihadiri langsung oleh pemimpin negara
.
Ah, tapi saya tahu apa. Cuma rakyat jelata

— Fiersa Besari (@FiersaBesari) April 3, 2021

Fiersa Besari, well-known writer and singer, tweeted that the president's presence at the wedding is not a good look when the government has announced the formal ban of the annual mudik, or returning home from the city, before Hari Raya Aidilfitri in May.  

Besari tweeted: "Mudik is banned but holiday destinations open together. The roads are closed, but traffic jams are everywhere. 

He added that people are not allowed to have wedding parties, but the leader of a country personally attends a celebrity's solemnisation.

Active on Twitter, former maritime affairs and fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti replied to the tweet above with a crying emoji. 

Meanwhile, as reported in The Jakarta Post, some believe that Widodo was appealing to a younger group of voters with the combined social media star power of the couple. Also, the bride's parents, Anang Hermansyah and Krisdayanti, were both popular singers who entered politics and became members of the House. 

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zakaria@asiaone.com