Jokowi Scraps Planned Visit to Mandeh, Prepares Son's Wedding
15 May 2015 09:20 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Padang – President Jokowi has scrapped his planned visit to West Sumatra to inaugurate the Mandeh tourist site in Pesisir Selatan regency on Saturday, May 16, 2015, as he must prepare the wedding of his eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, with Selvi Ananda, which is slated for June 11, 2015.
National Development Planning Minister Andrinof Chaniago said the president offered his apologies for having to postpone his visit to West Sumatra.
“Because he has to prepare the wedding for early June,” he told Tempo on Thursday, May 14, 2014.
Andrinof said the president promised he would visit the Mandeh tourist site after the wedding was concluded, and that the latter also paid special attention to the development of the site, which would be transformed into the Mandeh Integrated Maritime Tourism Destination.
“God willing, I will come to Mandeh in June, after the wedding,” Adrinof said, quoting Jokowi.
President Jokowi is sending three ministers—Tourism Minister Arif Yahya, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, and National Development Planning Minister Andrinof Chaniago—to attend the 2015 Mandeh Joy Sailing and the Mandeh Festival.
The 18-hectare tourist attraction is located in a coastal area in Sumatra Island, some 54 km off the city of Padang, featuring gulfs, sea viewing and islets.
ANDI EL FARUQI