Wednesday November 5, 2008

Indonesians delight over Obama's victory

By Harry Suhartono and Sugita Katyal

JAKARTA (Reuters) - The election to president of Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, was greeted with cheers and applause by about 200 people, including former classmates who had gathered in Jakarta for the event.

Indonesian students display pictures of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama as they celebrate his victory in his former school in Jakarta November 5, 2008. (REUTERS/Stringer)

"Of course we are so glad, happy and we are so proud of him, because after the long, long campaign, he finally did it," said Dewi Asmara, a former classmate of Obama.

Obama, who will be sworn in as the 44th U.S. president in January, 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.

In an ironical twist to the election, both Obama and his rival for the election Republican John McCain were in Southeast Asia four decades ago -- Obama in a Jakarta primary school, McCain as a prisoner of war in Hanoi.

"For the people of Indonesia there is a sentimental feeling. There's a special bonding that we have," said Asmara, as a shower of blue, white and red balloons dropped from a hotel ballroom where the U.S. embassy held an election event.

Obama was six years old when he moved to Jakarta, where he went to a Catholic school and then State Elementary School Menteng 01.

The Menteng school briefly become a source of controversy after a conservative magazine reported on its website last year 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.

Classmates and teachers in Jakarta remember Obama affectionately as a child who loved to draw cartoon characters. But his Indonesia experience was cut short in 1971 when he was sent to live with grandparents in Hawaii in order to get an American education.

Obama has strong memories of Indonesia from those formative years.

He recounts in his book "Dreams of My Father" being amazed to find the house they moved into on the outskirts of Jakarta had a collection of exotic animals including a monkey, birds of paradise, a cockatoo and even several baby crocodiles.

Ahead of the final result on Wednesday, about 100 students currently attending Obama's former school prayed for his victory in a hall near a giant projection screen tracking the election results.

"I support Obama 110 percent for sure," said Ashraf, a sixth grade student.

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 developing country.

"We are very happy because of the emotional connection. Obama lived here for four years," Sunandar Ibnu Nur, a lecturer from an Islamic state university, said.

"It will be good for peace in the world and good for Indonesia too."

Indonesia has been a key regional ally in the U.S.-led "war on terror" and looks to America for trade and investment. But many of Bush's policies, especially in the Middle East, have been unpopular in the predominantly Muslim country.

(Additional reporting by Supriyatin)

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