INDONESIA: Students in Obama's former school welcome the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of United States

Record ID: 731140

  • Title: INDONESIA: Students in Obama's former school welcome the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of United States
  • Date: 23rd January 2009
  • Summary: MAN WATCHING TELEVISION WOMAN CLAPPING
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9VX4H03SJGLLPUXX81H7LWTSK
  • Story Text: Students at Barack Obama's former school in Indonesia hope Obama will make America a friendlier country towards other nations.
    Students at the Menteng school welcomed the inauguration of Barack Obama as the new President of United States on Wednesday (January 21), and hoped he will make the U.S. a better country.

    "I hope that America will be a better country and friendlier," said Ardian at the school after watching the ceremony.
    Indonesia has been a key ally in the U.S.-led "war on terror"
    and looks to America for trade and investment.
    But many of President George W. Bush's policies, especially in the Middle East, have been unpopular in the predominantly Muslim nation.
    Other students said they wished Obama will remember Indonesia, the place which was briefly his home as a child.

    "I am happy for him, I hope he will not forget Indonesia,"
    said student Putri.

    "I am happy to see one a former student of this school now become President of the United States," said Syarif.
    The school briefly become a source of controversy after a conservative magazine reported on its website in 2007 that it was a radical madrassa, or Islamic school. The school in a posh, leafy suburb of Jakarta is in fact attended by pupils of many faiths.
    Obama was six years old when he moved to Jakarta, where he went to a Catholic school and then State Elementary School Menteng 01.
    Barack Obama's childhood years spent in Jakarta should give him a better understanding of the Muslim world and improve U.S. ties with Southeast Asia's largest democracy and biggest economy, Indonesians said on Tuesday.
    Obama, who is inaugurated as the 44th U.S. president, spent four years in Indonesia after his American mother, Ann Dunham, married Muslim Indonesian Lolo Soetoro following the end of her marriage to Obama's Kenyan father.
    Indonesians have followed Obama's political fortunes closely and the local media has been full of stories on his old school, the house he lived in, and the hopes of people in the world's fourth-most populous nation.
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