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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was among world leaders who had an early opportunity to make a telephone call to newly sworn-in United States President Donald Trump, thanks to Trump’s strong connections in Indonesia.

During their conversation, the American leader assured Jokowi that relations between the two countries would be good because of his personal knowledge and relationships with many people in Indonesia.

“When I called President Trump, he said the relations between Indonesia and the United States would definitely be good because President Trump said ‘I have many friends in Indonesia and I have business in Indonesia’,” the President told reporters after competing in the Bogor Archery Championship in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday.

Trump invited Indonesian real estate and media tycoon Hary Tanoesoedibjo to attend his swearing-in ceremony in Washington DC on Friday. During his US visit, Hary is also slated to meet with Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump in New York to discuss their 700-hectare resort and golf course in Lido, West Java, and and a 100-ha complex in Bali.

“I deal with them regularly, with the two children who run the business now,” Hary told Bloomberg last week. “The good thing I like about the Trump family [is that] the three children are all good people, very professional and humble.”

The US president also knows House of Representatives speaker and Golkar Party chairman Setya Novanto. In September 2015, Setya sparked controversy in Indonesia after Trump introduced him as a friend during a press conference in New York.

Setya proudly claimed last week that his friendship with Trump would be beneficial to Indonesia. Jokowi reportedly asked for Setya’s help to contact the new American leader.

“I am optimistic that Indonesian relations [with the US] will be better, but it should be mutually beneficial for the two countries,” said Jokowi.

Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of women filled the streets of major American cities to lead an unprecedented wave of international protests against President Donald Trump, mocking and denouncing the new US leader the day after his inauguration, Reuters reported Sunday.

Women activists, outraged by Trump’s campaign rhetoric and behavior they found to be especially misogynistic, spearheaded marches in the US and sympathy rallies around the world on Saturday.

Organizers of the “Sister March” sponsors boasted some 670 gatherings around the world in solidarity with the Washington event, estimating a global turnout of more than 4.6 million participants tallied through online march registrations, although those numbers could not be independently verified.

In contrast to the heated tone of the presidential campaign, and the grim imagery of “American carnage” Trump evoked in his inaugural address, the mood during Saturday’s protests was largely upbeat, even
festive.

Chanting such slogans as, “We need a real leader, not a creepy tweeter”, and “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Donald Trump has got to go”, many marchers wore knitted pink cat-eared “pussy hats” in a reference to Trump’s boast, in a 2005 video made public weeks before the election, about grabbing women by the genitals.

Many of the women were accompanied by husbands, boyfriends and children.

The planned centerpiece of the protests, a Women’s March on Washington, exceeded the 200,000 marchers projected in advance by organizers, filling long stretches of downtown Washington.

Hundreds of thousands more women thronged New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and Boston, adding to a public outpouring of mass dissent against Trump unmatched in modern US politics for a new president’s first full day in office.

Organizers estimated 750,000 demonstrators swarmed the streets of Los Angeles. Some 400,000 marchers assembled in New York City, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio. The Chicago event grew so large that organizers staged a rally rather than trying to parade through the city.

Pam Foyster, a resident of Ridgway, Colorado, said the atmosphere in Washington reminded her of mass protests during the 1960s and 1970s against the Vietnam War and in favor of civil rights and women’s rights.

“I’m 58 years old, and I can’t believe we are having to do this again,” Foyster said.