Saudi king embraces the selfie
JAKARTA: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has embraced the “selfie”, taking part in a number of lighthearted pictures and videos during his tour of Asia that contrast with the pomp and formality of most of the octogenarian monarch’s trips abroad.
The king has appeared with top-ranking officials in Indonesia and Malaysia in pictures shared online millions of times.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo shared a video of himself dining with the king at the presidential palace.
The king is seen dining on soup and using gold cutlery before commenting 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 in Arabic, which is translated by an aide.
The king was also photographed posing for a selfie with former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and her daughter.
Earlier this week, King 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, King Salman has made occasional appearances on social media before, including when he posed last year for a selfie in Qatar with a teenager who had
survived cancer.
The king is travelling with an entourage of several hundred people and nearly 500 tonnes of luggage, including two gold 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.
King Salman will also visit Brunei, China, Japan, the Maldives and Jordan.