The rise of social media in the past decade has allowed people to form relationships via social networking services such as Facebook regardless of their background.
Ilaria, for instance, a young Italian woman who was previously living in Italy, was determined to meet Dzulfikar, a young man living in Batang regency, Central Java, who she met on the internet.
The two began communicating via Facebook before reportedly falling in love and agreeing to marry.
On April 18, Ilaria arrived in Batang and directly headed to Tragung village, Kandeman district, Batang regency. She said her purpose of coming to Indonesia was to meet Dzulfikar. The two had agreed to marry, tribunnews.com reported.
Ilaria said she conveyed her plan to marry Dzulfikar to her parents in Italy and that they gave her consent to do so.
“For two years, I saved money I got from working in a restaurant in Italy just to come to Indonesia,” said Ilaria. Her arrival in Batang quickly drew public attention, including from police authorities who immediately dispatched personnel to check on the presence of the foreigner in the Batang village.
Dzulfikar’s neighbors reportedly notified the police of Ilaria’s presence.
Accompanied by three personnel, Batang Police deputy chief First Insp. Agus Windarto traveled to Tragung village to assess the situation. “We questioned her to determine what her purpose was of coming to Indonesia,” said Agus./rga
SCREENGRAB from The Jakarta Post