Jakarta - Saudi Arabia's King Salman has
embraced the "selfie", taking part in a number of light-hearted
self-shot pictures and videos during his tour of Asia that
contrast with the pomp and formality of most of the octogenarian
monarch's trips abroad.
In the first days of a lengthy regional tour, the king has
appeared with top-ranking officials in Indonesia and Malaysia in
pictures and clips that have been shared online millions of
times.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo shared on Facebook a video
of himself dining with the king at the presidential palace in
Bogor, near the capital Jakarta.
In the video, both men comment on the visit, the first to
Indonesia by a Saudi king in nearly five decades, and give
viewers a rare peek into a state event.
As Widodo holds what appears to be a phone camera, the king
is seen dining on soup and using gold-coloured cutlery before
commenting in Arabic on his 12-day visit to Indonesia, the
longest leg of his month-long tour of Asia.
"I'm very happy to be here in Indonesia and with the
Indonesian people," King Salman says to the camera, as an
interpreter sitting behind him translates into Bahasa Indonesia.
The king was also photographed posing for a selfie with
former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and her daughter Puan
Maharani, who is a member of Widodo's cabinet.
Indonesia has a high concentration of Facebook and Twitter
users, and selfies are a mainstay of social media in the world's
fourth most populous country.
Earlier this week, Salman was seen in a selfie posted on
Twitter with Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, during the
first stop on his sweep across Asia.
Though rare, Salman has made occasional appearances on
social media before, including when he posed last year for a
selfie in Qatar with a teen who survived cancer.
The king is travelling with an entourage of several hundred
people and nearly 500 tonnes of luggage, including two
gold-coloured escalators.
After Jakarta, the delegation is set to take a break in the
resort island of Bali, where up to four hotels and 300 luxury
cars have been booked for more than a week, according to local
police and a tour agency association.
Salman is also set to visit Brunei, China, Japan, the
Maldives and Jordan.