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.

Dzulfikars neighbors reportedly notified the police of Ilarias 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. (mrc/ebf)