President Jokowi Changes Visit Schedule To Africa To Attend IPM XXIII Congress

Indonesian President Joko Widodo delivered his remarks while attending the XXIII Congress of the Muhammadiyah Student Association (IPM) in Medan, North Sumatra, (photo: dock. intermediate)

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Joko Widodo admitted that he deliberately changed the schedule for working visits (kunkers) to several countries in the African continent in order to attend the XXIII Muhammadiyah Student Association (IPM) in Medan, North Sumatra, Saturday, August 19. "I should have left for Africa today, but because there is the XXIII Congress of the Muhammadiyah Student Association, I will postpone my departure tomorrow," said Jokowi while giving a speech at the event which was broadcast live on the official YouTube channel of the Presidential Secretariat. Not only changing the departure schedule, the President admitted to changing the route for the sake of the XXIII IPM Congress. According to the President, he will go to Africa directly from Medan, North Sumatra, and not from Jakarta as originally planned. Head of State admitted that he made the change to treat the longing felt for IPM cadres, considering the last time he attended the invitation of the Muhammadiyah PP autonomous organization at the XXI IPM Congress in Sidoarjo, East Java, in 2018.

"Jadi sudah berapa, hampir 4-5 tahun ini baru bisa bertemu. Alhamdulillah bisa mengobati kangen saya kepada IPM," kata Jokowi.Presiden mengaku dirinya tidak perlu berpikir dua kali ketika Ketua PP IPM Nashir Effendi mendatangi Istana Kepresidenan Jakarta dan menyampaikan undangan menghadiri Muktamar XXIII IPM beberapa waktu lalu."Sekali lagi, saya datang karena kangen bertemu dengan saudara-saudara sekalian. Saya senang, jujur saya sampaikan saya senang," ujar Jokowi.Selain Ketum PP IPM, turut hadir dalam acara tersebut adalah Ketua Umum PP Muhammadiyah Haedar Nasir, Menteri Pemuda dan Olahraga Dito Ariotedjo, Panglima TNI Laksamana TNI Yudo Margono, Gubernur Sumatra Utara Edy Rahmayadi, Wali Kota Medan Bobby Nasution, serta Ketua Komisi I DPR RI Meutya Hafid.