dari Jakarta (Barack Obama)

Barry

Here is an idea for “thinking outside the Indonesian box“.

Barack Sukarno for governor of Jakarta.

We need a new paradigm. We need a new way to live on this planet. And we need it now.

After five years of war in Iraq the United States is now facing an economic implosion of debt. Here we are on the verge of our own krismon. The war(s) drag on at enormous costs in life and treasure.  There is a perfect storm of economic trouble brewing. 

Rome burns while Nero fiddles. 

Barack Obama never has claimed that he is perfect. He does have a clear and consistent message. His speeches, which I have seen, have been astonishing in delivery and content. His demeanor is that of an honest man.  His connection to Jakarta is of interest.

A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama’s Path …>go to article

New York Times 3.14.08 

Janny Scott

The article is about Ms. Soetoro, Barack Obama’s mother. Well worth reading…

“She felt that somehow, wandering through uncharted territory, we might stumble upon something that will, in an instant, seem to represent who we are at the core,” said Maya Soetoro-Ng, Mr. Obama’s half-sister. “That was very much her philosophy of life - to not be limited by fear or narrow definitions, to not build walls around ourselves and to do our best to find kinship and beauty in unexpected places…”

“…She loved living in Java,” said Dr. Dewey, who recalled accompanying Ms. Soetoro to a metalworking village. “People said: ‘Hi! How are you?’ She said: ‘How’s your wife? Did your daughter have the baby?’ They were friends. Then she’d whip out her notebook and she’d say: ‘How many of you have electricity? Are you having trouble getting iron?’ “

She became a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development on setting up a village credit program, then a Ford Foundation program officer in Jakarta specializing in women’s work. Later, she was a consultant in Pakistan, then joined Indonesia’s oldest bank to work on what is described as the world’s largest sustainable microfinance program, creating services like credit and savings for the poor.

She died in November 1995, as Mr. Obama was starting his first campaign for public office. After a memorial service at the University of Hawaii, one friend said, a small group of friends drove to the South Shore in Oahu. With the wind whipping the waves onto the rocks, Mr. Obama and Ms. Soetoro-Ng placed their mother’s ashes in the Pacific, sending them off in the direction of Indonesia”.

Still, the politics of fear haunt the American political scene.

CNN debunks false report about Obama …>go to article

“JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) — Allegations that Sen. Barack Obama was educated in a radical Muslim school known as a “madrassa” are not accurate, according to CNN reporting”.

 Obama’s own response to this and other allegations has been to say calmly and with intent that it is “ridiculous”.

There has also been quite a bit of interest about Obama in Jakarta.

CAMPAIGN OUTSIDER

The Indonesian candidate …>go to article

Asia Times 2.20.08

 Muhammad Cohen

“Award-winning Indonesian poet and writer Laksmi Pamuntjak sees a further impact on Obama from spending time in a country that has “Unity in Diversity” as its motto.”Having lived in Indonesia, at the very least, would have acquainted him with the idea of living with difference, as Indonesia itself, a modern 20th century invention for all intents and purposes, is made up of some 17,000 islands, some 450 languages, is continuously in flux and is never the ‘one’ thing - something, in the words of a friend, of a patchwork of old/new, here/there, high tech/new tech materials, and always with a sense of bricolage.”The young Obama would have probably had an early taste of the vacillations, ambiguities and imperfections of such a place, but also of the richness of viewpoints and interpretations, the struggle with history, and the sense of hope that comes, as young nations always do, from finding oneself anew.”

A week before the Hawaii Democratic caucus voting occurred I attended a Barack Obama organizational meeting in Hilo. Congressman Neil Abercrombie gave a short introductory speech in which he said “the day Barack Obama is inaugurated as President of the United States you will hear the enitre planet heave a sigh of relief.”

Barack Obama also likes to say that none of this will be easy. To find oneself anew you must participate.

Yes, we can.