Indonesia & Obama

U.S President Barack Obama, spent four years of his childhood, 1967-1971, living with his American mother and Indonesian step father in Jakarta, Indonesia.

This fact has made many Indonesians become over confident that Obama will be a very good friend of Indonesia.

From some of his speeches and books, Obama implied that he would be friendlier toward Indonesia than other US presidents. Because he realized that Indonesia is the world's largest Moslem country and third largest democracy, with a steady economic growth.  Moreover, our government adopted a constant friendly policy toward the US and its allies, and made very serious and successful efforts to eliminate terrorists.

However, I doubt that Obama will be our very good friend, because as a U.S President he has lots of things to think about and take care of in his own country. He also has to prioritize U.S allies like Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Australia, etc.

Besides, our country's non-align foreign policy, and existence few but vocal radicals who protested Obama's plan to visit Indonesia next June, would prevent Obama from becoming our very good friend.

In this era of globalization, Indonesia needs supports from other countries to develop successfully. Therefore I hope that our people, especially the government and the parliament, would maintain a positive attitude toward Obama. In the sense that we treat him like any other presidents of other friendly countries, but do not be overconfident that he will a very good friend.