Authorities removed a statue of Barack Obama from a park in the Jakarta due to a public backlash.It was moved today to a elementary school nearby where the U.S. president went to as he was a child. The statue, inspired by a childhood photograph of the 10-year-old Obama and made of bronze, was the target of critics recently from the time it was erected in the Jakarta park in December 2009. Detractors argued that an Indonesian hero should have been honored instead, noting that Obama still could pursue policies that hurt Indonesia’s interests.
Obama, whose American mother got married to an Indonesian man after she divorced his father from Kenya, went to the school in the capital from 1967 to 1971 and is regarded fondly by most Indonesians. Edi Kusyanto, teacher at the affluent government school that Obama went to, stated the 110 centimeter high statue would be standing in the school grounds by the time the president visits Jakarta. Barack Obama is in Jakarta form March 20 to March 22 this year. “There is no controversy about the statue being here. Everyone at the school welcomes it,” Kusyanto added.
The statue was erected with private funds raised by the Jakarta-based nonprofit group Friends of Obama Foundation. Jakarta Gov. Fauzi Bowo is now paying for the relocation to the new place. Ron Mullers, an American living in Jakarta who came up with the idea for the statue and raised money for it, declined to say whether he thought moving it was an overreaction. “It’s a beautiful statue and it had become a tourist attraction,” Mullers stated. “My feeling is that the park is a place where more Indonesian people can see it,” he said. Still, he said he was happy that the statue might inspire the school’s students to follow their dreams.
Heru Nugroho, who leads a campaign on Facebook to have the statue removed, obviously welcomed the move. But he also added that the decision has taken way too long. He mentioned though that he would now drop the court action seeking the statue’s removal. Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population and many here in the capital of Indonesia believe that Barack Obama will improve relations with the West.
