M

ore than 1,000 high-profile guests — some traveling in Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Porsches — were on hand at the Cipanas Presidential Palace in Cipanas, West Java, on Thursday for the political wedding of the year.

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono’s youngest son, Edhie “Ibas” Baskoro, 31, married the eldest daughter of Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, Siti Ruby Aliya Rajasa, 25.

Hatta is also chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), the nation’s fifth-largest party and a key member of Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party-led coalition. PAN has already named Hatta its nominee for vice president in the 2014 election, with a running mate yet to be decided.

Adorned in expensive traditional South Sumatran attire, Ibas and Aliya dazzled guests and the crowd nearby.

A huge television screen was installed outside the palace for the hundreds who assembled to watch the wedding.

Three nearby elementary schools of around 500 pupils were closed on concerns of wedding-related traffic jams.

Gerindra Party chief Prabowo Subianto and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, both potential presidential candidates in 2014, were also at Cipinas for the nuptials.

“Nice party. The bride and groom amazed everyone,” Prabowo said.

People’s Consultative Assembly speaker Taufik Kiemas attended the wedding without his wife, current Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chief and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose relations with Yudhoyono remain strained.

Ibas and Aliya are slated to hold a reception for 3,500 guests at the Jakarta Convention Center, which often stages famous international singers and bands, on Saturday.

Separately, several NGOs estimated that the wedding cost the proud parents anywhere from Rp 7 billion (US$822,000) to Rp 40 billion.

Critics have questioned how Yu-dhoyono, whose personal fortune was estimated at Rp 7 billion, could afford such an elaborate wedding and reception. As President, Yudhoyono earns less than $7,000 a month, while Hatta, as a minister, earns around $5,000.

Ibas, dubbed the “Prince of Cikeas” after the site of Yudhoyono’s luxurious private residence, earns less than $5,000 a month as a legislator and the Democratic Party secretary-general. Aliya is unemployed after completing a master’s degree in the United Kingdom.