While the British Royal family is currently sorting through their public relations nightmare, Southeast Asia has its own drama involving Felicia Chew, the former girlfriend of Indonesian Prime Minister Joko Widodo’s youngest son, 26-year-old Kaesang Pangarep.
The public breakup of Kaesang and Felicia has just begun, and both sides have aired their grievances, according to online reports.
Indonesian media usually called Felicia “Felicia Tissue.”
Who is Felicia Chew?
The woman who was formerly Kaesang Pangarep’s girlfriend studied with him in the Singapore University of Social Science (SUSS). They both graduated in 2019 and led a relationship that was very visible to the public. The two had appeared on each other’s Instagram and other social media accounts–until last month.
He and Felicia have businesses in Indonesia together.
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Online reports said that Kaesang and Felicia had unfollowed each other last month on Instagram, which led the public to think they had broken up.
He and Felicia were reportedly together for five years, and even have Instagram accounts dedicated to their relationship from fans.
Felicia Chew’s family speaks up
While the breakup may have been month-old news, the manner in which it happened to Felicia and Kaesang has now gone viral.
Meilia Lau, Felicia Chew’s mother, posted about the breakup on her Instagram account, with a photo of Felicia and Kaesang, along with President Widodo and his wife Iriana. She also tagged the Indonesian president and his son in her posts. She has over 123,000 followers.
In her post, she said that the Indonesian presiden’t son had met with them and assured them he would take care of their daughter during their studies in Singapore. Then late last year, he had allegedly asked the family for their blessing to marry Felicia.
Something changed in January 2021 though, when Kaesang had begun to grow distant from Felicia and stopped communicating with them. He became very distant and was said to have “disappeared.”
Meilia said that they only found out that he had a new relationship with a different woman from an Indonesian tabloid outlet.
The Instagram post above allegedly showed a woman named Nadya Arifta. She was reportedly an employee for PR department of PT Harapan Bangsa Kita, the holding company of Kaesang’s F&B ventures such as Sang Pisang and Ternakopi.
Meilia posted another photo, this time with Felicia and Kaesang together with older female relative.
In this second post, she said that “No one really knows who their soulmate is. But if they were indeed soulmates and they had been holding their sacred promise in the past five years, and apparently someone really wanted to take away another person’s happiness. That person was an employee who was trusted by my daughter Felicia. Where is your heart, young woman?”
Felicia’s mother continued to say, “I posted this because we have been patient for too long. Felicia has been patient enough. Don’t show [everyone] such shameful behavior.”
Felicia’s brother also aired his side, and uploaded a YouTube video.
While Daryl did not mention any names, he said, “As a brother and a man, I do not condone such behavior. I am disgusted by this man’s behavior and to the manner in which he has treated my sister… And trust me, we have tried all ways and means to reach out to this man and his family,”
He continued to say, “You walk into my family, asking for my sister’s trust and love, then you jolly well return her in a manner that she rightfully deserves as a respected woman. Be a man, act like one, and do the right thing. The people are watching.”
Felicia’s eldest brother works in Singapore, and her youngest brother goes to school here as well.
One of Felicia’s Singaporean friends was also featured on Meilia’s Instagram, where she accused the President’s son of ‘ghosting’. Indonesia got a crash course on the word, which usually involves completely stopping communication and disappearing from a person’s life and interactions after a previous involvement with one another. Any further instances of reaching out to the ‘ghoster’ by the ‘ghosted’ person is ignored..
She accused Kaesang of leaving Felicia without saying anything to her. Kaesang allegedly removed all photos of them together, stopped communications, and did not explain to Felicia what happened. She then called out his new relationship that surfaced after one month.
Kimberley Neo was reported to be Felicia’s friend in Singapore.
What did Kaesang Pengarep say?
As for President Widodo and his son, the message is that the breakup is a “private matter.”
Presidential spokesman Ali Mochtar spoke up against Meilia yesterday. “They’re already adults and communicate as friends, best friends, so that means that no one should bring up the name of President Jokowi in this matter, because this is not the parents’ business,” Ali said in an Indonesian report.
As for Kaesang himself, who seems to be thoroughly miffed at the turn of events a month after he had broken up with Felicia, said in a very short video, “It’s a private matter, right, why did they have to air the dirty laundry? It’s unethical.”
He also said, “So here’s how it went, I actually told her to end our relationship in mid-January, and that time I was yelled at. But alright, I kept my silence,” Kaesang said before leaving his seat.
