President Jokowi Expresses his Gratitude to King Salman
President Jokowi accompanies the King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud in a meeting with ulemas, at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Thursday (2/3) (Photo: JAY/PR)
On behalf of Indonesian muslims, President Joko Jokowi Widodo expressed his gratitude to Khadimul Haramain
Al-Syarifain His Majesty King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud for returning the normal figure of Indonesias hajj quota from 168,000 to 211,000 starting this year.It means, there is an additional of 43,000, plus 10,000 for 2017. The total of additional is 53,000, the President said in his remarks in a meeting between King Salman and Islamic figures, at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Thursday (2/3). The President expected that the process to return the quota to normal figure can run smoothly.
On that meeting, King Salman delivered his speech in Arabic language that was not interpreted into Indonesian.
The meeting was attended by a number of ulemas, among others, the Chairman of Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) K. H. Maruf Amin, Quraish Shihab, Dien Syamsudin, Nasaruddin Umar, Hamdan Zulva, Arifin Ilham, and Yusuf Mansur.
Planting Ulin Tree
After the meeting with ulemas, President Jokowi and King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud planted a memorial tree. Ulin tree (Bornean Ironwood) was chosen to be planted at the backyard of the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta.
Ulin tree is a wet tropical forest timber speciesthat naturally grows in Kalimantan and southern part of Sumatera.
President Jokowi said that this tree was chosen because it is very strong. Hopefully, the relations of Indonesia and Saudi Arabia will be as strong as the tree. (RMI/JAY/UN/GUN /ES)(MMB/YM/Naster)
