“I am about to be a member of a big Batak family,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said with a smile after inaugurating two toll roads in Medan, North Sumatra, last Friday.

The President was beaming with pride as he spoke of the upcoming nuptials of his only daughter, Kahiyang Ayu, to Bobby Afif Nasution, who is an ethnic Batak from Medan.

For Jokowi, the marriage meant he would be able to visit North Sumatra more frequently, not only in his capacity as state leader but also as the father-in-law of a Batak man, Jokowi said, triggering laughter in the attending crowd.

After the inauguration, Jokowi and First Lady Iriana headed to the home of Bobby’s family in Medan in their first visit to Kahiyang’s future in-laws.

Jokowi, however, remained tight-lipped about the meeting, which lasted about one hour.

The wedding ceremony is scheduled to take place in Jokowi’s hometown of Surakarta in Central Java on Nov. 8.

It is believed that Bobby’s families will hold another cultural procession in Medan afterward to give Kahiyang a clan name, an important tradition held when a Batak marries outside the ethnic group. In this case, Kahiyang, who is Javanese, will need to take part in the ceremony.

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