Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and US Secretary of State John Kerry are just two of the party crashers coming to Jokowi’s inauguration next Monday
So apparently, if you’re a head of state or high-ranking foreign dignitary, you don’t need an actual invitation to attend the inauguration of Joko Widodo, which is taking place next Monday.
As reported in The Age, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, along with other world leaders such as the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and United States Secretary of State John Kerry are coming to the party sans invitation.
According to Agus Subagyo, a spokesman for the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), which has the official responsibility for conducting the inauguration ceremony, confirmed that no invites had been sent out to world leaders.
“No, they’re coming by their own initiative as expressed through their embassies.”
But these international bigwigs aren’t unprecedented party crashers. Former Australian prime minister John Howard was the first, coming to attend the inauguration of now outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004. Howard was the first foreign head of state to attend the inauguration of an Indonesian president and he decided to do so without an official invite. The move was actually seen as a way to strengthen Australia-Indonesia relations, and it forced other foreign dignitaries who wanted to keep relations between their countries and Indonesia warm to follow suit.
The Age quotes an official in the Jokowi transition team who said, “if Mr Abbott were to turn up, Javanese politeness would require that we accommodate him.”
Source: The Age
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