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OBAMA: 'INDONESIA IS A PART OF ME' Obama cast Indonesia as a regional player that could set an example for nearby nations. By Carol E. Lee11/09/2010 09:59 PM EST * * * * JAKARTA —
President Barack Obama believes Indonesia and the United States have two things in common that could bridge the East-West divide: democracy and himself. “Let me begin with a simple
statement,” Obama said Wednesday in a speech to the Muslim world at the University of Indonesia. He then spoke in Indonesian: “Indonesia is a part of me,” a statement that drew cheers and
applause. Obama, who received a hero’s welcome on his first visit to the island nation in decades, reached back into his family history to bolster his argument that Americans and Muslims
abroad have commonalities that make for a natural partnership — including tolerance, diversity, a quest for knowledge and deep-seated spirituality. “But we also know that relations between
the United States and Muslim communities have frayed over many years,” Obama said. “As president, I have made it a priority to begin to repair these relations.” The speech — billed as a
follow-up to the president’s speech to Muslims in Cairo last year — focused on economic development, democracy and what the White House called an “interfaith dialogue” between Muslims and
Christians. But it was also quite personal, as the president sprinkled his address with Indonesian phrases and recalled idyllic images from his childhood years in Indonesia. Combined with
economic ties and a desire to see student exchanges between the two countries, Obama linked the democratic values he holds as an American with Indonesia’s success as a developing country to
illustrate parallels between the Eastern and Western worlds. Economic success here, the president told his audience of 6,000, is “inseparable from the role of democracy,” which he said is a
facilitator of progress and a value that “will propel Indonesia forward.” The meld of democracy and religion in Indonesia — where Islam is by far the dominant faith — has also intrigued
Obama, who will visit four Asian democracies during his trip. “Like the other Asian nations that I am visiting on this trip, Indonesia is steeped in spirituality — a place where people
worship God in many different ways,” said the president, who delivered his speech on Heroes Day, a holiday to honor Indonesian independence. “Along with this rich diversity, it is also home
to the world’s largest Muslim population — a truth that I came to know as a boy when I heard the call to prayer across Jakarta.” Obama cast Indonesia as a regional player, one who can set a
positive example for surrounding nations. “The nations of Southeast Asia must have the right to determine their own destiny, and the United States will strongly support that right, but the
people of Southeast Asia must have the right to determine their own destiny as well,” Obama said. “That is why we are supporting your vibrant civil society in working with counterparts
across this region. Because there is no reason why respect for human rights should stop at the border of any country.” Indonesia and the United States, he said, “have a stake in each other’s
success.” “Because Indonesia is made up of thousands of islands, hundreds of languages and people from scores of regions and ethnic groups, my times here helped me appreciate the common
humanity of all people,” according to Obama’s prepared remarks. “And while my stepfather, like most Indonesians, was raised a Muslim, he firmly believed that all religions were worthy of
respect. In this way, he reflected the spirit of religious tolerance that is enshrined in Indonesia’s Constitution, and that remains one of this country’s defining and inspiring
characteristics.” Obama’s speech was reflective; he said his four years his family lived in Indonesia, from 1967 to 1971, shaped his childhood. He described their small home with a mango
tree out front, recalled flying kites along rice paddies, catching dragonflies and eating satay and baso from the street vendors. But “most of all,” he said, “I remember the people.” The
president had not been to Indonesia in almost two decades before this overnight stop during his nine-day tour of the South Asian region. He had postponed two previously scheduled visits this
year because of domestic issues that required his attention back home, including health care reform legislation and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “We had a couple of false starts
this year, but I was determined to visit a country that has meant so much to me,” Obama said on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, it’s a fairly quick visit, but I look forward to coming back a year
from now, when Indonesia hosts the East Asia Summit.” Obama said he’d arrived to an Indonesia that, like him, had grown up. “So much has changed in the four decades since I boarded a plane
to move back to Hawaii,” said the president, referring to the time his mother sent him from the country to live with her parents in Honolulu. “If you asked me — or any of my schoolmates who
knew me back then — I don’t think any of us could have anticipated that I would one day come back to Jakarta as president of the United States. And few could have anticipated the remarkable
story of Indonesia over these last four decades.” Obama proposed “a deep and enduring partnership” between Indonesia and the United States because of the countries’ shared values.
“Underneath the headlines of the day, we must build bridges between our peoples, because our future security and prosperity is shared,” the president said. “Development, after all, is not
simply about growth rates and numbers on a balance sheet. It’s about whether a child can learn the skills they need to make it in a changing world. It’s about whether a good idea is allowed
to grow into a business, and not be suffocated by corruption,” he said. “It’s about whether those forces that have transformed the Jakarta that I once knew — technology and trade and the
flow of people and goods — translate into a better life for human beings, a life marked by dignity and opportunity.” * Filed Under: * Barack Obama, * Speeches, * Muslims, * Indonesia, *
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