P

rapti, an Indonesian national living in Den Haag, was one of those screaming the loudest in the crowd of around 200 people that welcomed the entourage of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in front
of the Grand Hotel Amrath Kurhaus in the city on Thursday afternoon.

She tried to register with the Indonesian Embassy in Den Haag to attend a meet and greet with the President at the hotel, but was unsuccessful due to many others who had already signed up, but she decided to wait outside the hotel to witness the historic visit.

Prapti said during his 34 years of living in the Netherlands, a country that ruled Indonesia for over 300 years, she had never in her life directly witnessed the visit of an Indonesian president, not to mention getting the opportunity to shake hands with one.

Jokowi is the first president in 16 years to visit the former colonial ruler of Indonesia, which declared its independence from the Dutch on Aug. 17, 1945.

The last visit was made by former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, who came to the Netherlands in 2000.

“This is the first time that I have even shook the hand of a president of my country. It’s been almost 17 years since an Indonesian president has come to the Netherlands and now Jokowi is coming,” said Prapti, who voted for Jokowi in the July 2014 Presidential election.

Prapti shivered in the cold weather of Den Haag after waiting since 4 p.m. on Thursday for Jokowi to arrive, but she said it was worth it to see the Indonesian President in a foreign land.

Another member of the excited crowd Maria Veronika said she came to see Jokowi due to his image as a populist leader.

“In the past, I was not interested in seeing any visiting President but this time I decided to come. We waited for him until I was frozen but that’s OK,” Maria said.

Jokowi directly approached and shook hands with several members of the cheering crowd after arriving, allowing some of them to take photographs with him. After listening to the crowd sing Indonesian national anthem “Indonesia Raya”, Jokowi entered the hotel for the meet and greet with hundreds of Indonesian nationals living in the Netherlands.

During the event, Jokowi called on Indonesian nationals overseas including those in the Netherlands to dare to take the chance and face competition.

“A good survivor is one who survives amid tough competition,” Jokowi said.

Indonesia’s first official state visit to its former ruler occurred in 1970 during in the Soeharto era. Around 30 years later Gus Dur also visited the Netherlands.

Neither Gus Dur’s predecessor Baharuddin Jusuf Habibie nor his two successors before Jokowi, Megawati Soekarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, visited the Netherlands during their time as president.

Yudhoyono, called off a planned visit in 2010 after the separatist group Republic of South Moluccas (RMS) based in the West European country called for Yudhoyono’s arrest for human rights abuses.

Jokowi’s historic visit to the country also marks a homecoming of sorts for Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, who served as Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands before being appointed as a minister.

The Netherlands is the last country that Jokowi will visit as part of his five-day state visit to Europe, during which he has also visited Germany, the UK and Belgium.

Besides holding bilateral meetings with host leaders, President Jokowi also met local businesspeople and business associations with the primary aim of increasing trade relations and economic cooperation between Indonesia and Europe.

The president also took the opportunity to meet and greet Indonesian people living in those countries.