Our Former Neighbour

Our Former Neighbour
14 June, 2008

Sonny Imam Sukarso, a school friend of senator Barack Obama. (Photo courtesy: ADEK BERRY/ AFP)

While some American voters regard his childhood experience in predominantly Muslim Indonesia in the 1960s as a dark side of his life, many Indonesians are notably cheerful to see the opportunity for Barack Obama to become the United States’ first African-American president in November’s election. He is everyone’s son or friend here.

Many Indonesians regard Obama as the son of our neighbours, and all neighbours want to share the pride of having a neighbour who has the chance to become the world’s most powerful person, even if they had little knowledge of the boy when he lived in their neighbourhood.

"Obama’s chances of becoming the 45th US president are still unclear. Are Americans prepared to be ruled by an African-American?"

Indonesians are very confident that Indonesia-US relations will be much warmer when Obama is at the helm in the White House. They also believe the world will be much more peaceful under Obama and that the nightmare under George W Bush will pass as bitter history never to be repeated. Although Obama will do everything to protect America’s interests as an American senator (who knows what he will be like as an American president) and his interests probably run counter to Indonesia’s, Obama is still the best ‘son’ of Indonesia. Many of us perhaps do not realise that the Democratic Party is much more demanding on human rights, labour issues and trade issues than the Republican Party.

“Our country has been led by the nose by the United States. It won’t happen anymore if he becomes the US president,” Sonny Imam Sukarso, an elementary school classmate of Obama’s in Jakarta in the 1960s, told the Agence France-Presse a few hours after Obama declared his victory in securing the Democratic Party ticket on June 3.

Realising ties to the world’s most populous Muslim country could have negative repercussions for him. In public Obama has tried to distance himself from Indonesia. But many Indonesians believe his brief stay here with his mother and Indonesian stepfather played a crucial role in Obama’s character building. In his memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama described his childhood experience as the “bounty of a young man’s life”.

Amid paranoia against Islam in the United States, Obama is expected by many Muslims in Indonesia and in other parts of the world to have a more balanced position on Islam. Many Muslims have expressed hope that if he eventually defeats Republican candidate John McCain in the presidential race in November, the United States will have a better understanding about their religion, unlike incumbent President George W Bush who is widely perceived as hostile to Islam.

Not only in Indonesia will Obama’s victory over Hillary Clinton be a source of joy but also in Africa, especially Kenya, the country of his father’s origins. He will become a role model for minority groups and the underprivileged.

Obama’s chances of becoming the 45th US president are still unclear. Are Americans prepared to be ruled by an African-American?

Indonesian foreign ministry officials, bureaucrats, political elites and scholars will be busy analysing the US election. But ordinary Indonesians only hope that Obama will win. They are so fed up with Bush’s arrogance that they may have their expectations for Obama set too high.

At this moment, where there are not many that we can be proud of, the emergence of an American who lived in Jakarta for several years is an endless source of pride. Indonesians are confident Obama will be totally different from Bush. Whether it will be the reality or not, for them is not a serious question. (The Jakarta Post/ AsiaNews)

Sonny Imam Sukarso and senator Barack Obama were former students of Jakarta’s Menteng One Elementary School. Sukarso remembers him as a kid called Barry. (Photo courtesy: ADEK BERRY/ AFP)