Mixed Feelings For a Favorite Son

As Obama prepares to return to Indonesia, Asians aren't sure if he has delivered on his promises

Enny Nuraheni / Reuters / Corbis

After objections, a statue of the young Obama was moved from this Jakarta park.

The curious bronze statue of a 10-year-old Barack Obama quickly turned into a tourist attraction. Foreigners flocked to the park in Jakarta to honor the U.S. President, who spent four years of his childhood in the Indonesian capital. Locals visited too, but they weren't as pleased. "Indonesians didn't want the statue here," says Yunus, a park keeper. After three months, the monument was quietly moved to a nearby school where Obama studied. "I'm not against Obama," says Protus Tanuhandaru, one of the founders of a Facebook page that called for the figure's removal, "but it's wrong to have a statue in...

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