The electoral campaign for the next president of the United States is still a hot issue until recent days, especially because one of the candidates is an Afro-American and thus grabs public’s attention, even the world, and Indonesia as well. Why? Because, apparently, Barack Obama spent his childhood in Jakarta in late 1960’s after his mother, Ann Durham, married to an Indonesian student named Lolo Soetoro, who was pursuing an MA degree in East-West Center, University of Hawaii. Then Obama was brought to his new family in Indonesia.
It came to my interest when I found out that Barry, his childhood nickname, also attended a local school twice in an elite Jakarta region: SD Assisi and SD Besuki Menteng (SD or ‘Sekolah Dasar’ in Indonesian means elementary school). Even though rumors said that these two schools are a ‘base-camp’ for future Islamic fundamentalists, but in fact SD Assisi is a private Catholic while SD Besuki Menteng is a locally superior public school which accepts students from various religious backgrounds. Obama’s years in Indonesia were memorable for some of his ex-schoolmates as well as his teachers. He was known among his friends for his smartness and not to mention his naughtiness towards girls. Following is an excerpt from Voice of America (VOA)-Indonesian Program News“Barack Obama’s background is indeed unique. After Obama’s mother was divorced with a Kenyan origin, she married to Soentoro, an Indonesian citizen when Obama was still six years old. He was then brought to Jakarta together with his new family. What was Obama like when he was a child? Here are comments from his childhood fellows: ‘he used to be a naughty boy particularly among his female seniors. Once he destroyed the school’s fence which made from bamboos.’ ‘In a creative writing lesson, other students said that they wanted to be a doctor or pilot, but Barry claimed that he wanted to be a president.’ ‘He is smart, as he studied not only at school, but also did a correspondent course abroad.’ On his fifth grade, Barry moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents..."
Here is also another excerpt about ‘Barry’ Obama’s childhood in Indonesia from Al-Jazeera News that you can listen to in English:
Well, whether or not he would be elected as the next American president, ‘Barry’ or Barack Hussein Obama will always be remembered as the only one candidate who spent his early years in Indonesia, something that is worth for us to learn from, the Indonesian people.
