In Indonesia, Obama Reaches Out to Muslims and Business

The President of the United States was greeted with thunderous applause and a standing ovation Wednesday at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, where Barack Obama delivered a stirring speech to several thousand people. After the "shellacking" Obama and his party took last week in the elections back home, it must have been a welcome relief to be greeted in his former hometown with such unbridled delight. "If you asked me or any of my schoolmates who knew me back then, I don't think any of us would have anticipated that one day I would come back to Jakarta as the President of the United States," Obama told a fully-packed stadium of excited students and dignitaries. "And few could have anticipated the remarkable story of Indonesia over these last four decades."

Indeed, the largest country in Southeast Asia has come a long way since Barry Obama, as he was known back then, ran around barefoot and attended four years of elementary school in the capital's leafy Menteng district. Poverty and inflation levels have come down drastically and the economy is chugging along at nearly 6% growth. The U.S. President may have spent fewer than 24 hours in Jakarta on his first official visit, but the televised images of Air Force One landing here was a welcome sight for millions who began to lose faith that the first American president to have an Indonesian step-father would actually arrive after three cancellations since he took office, and his signing of a "comprehensive partnership" with Indonesia is expected to provide a much-needed boost to relations.

The initiative, designed to help tackle key issues in Indonesia from corruption and climate change to deforestation and human rights, was welcomed as a sign of the U.S. paying attention to more than fighting terrorist networks in the region. "We were very happy to see that Obama is focusing on more than just radical elements here and that he is taking a different tone than his predecessor," said Ari Setianto, one of the university students who attended the 35-minute speech. "If it had been the previous president speaking, there probably would have been demonstrations outside, but as you can see the reaction has been positive."

Just before the speech, America's first president with Muslim roots made a quick stop at the country's largest mosque. The president and first lady were given a quick tour and Obama was quick to point out later that the peaceful coexistence of different religions in Indonesia was nowhere more evident than in the Istiqlal mosque, which was designed by a Christian architect. And while the speech was billed as a follow-up to the President's historic speech in Cairo to the Muslim world last year, many in the business community were happy to see the bilateral relationship shift focus from a regional ally in the war on terror to one of improved trade relations.

The U.S. is Indonesia's third largest trading partner, at $21 billion in 2008, but regional powerhouses are making inroads quickly into sectors like energy and infrastructure. On the day before President Obama arrived, a Chinese trade delegation signed an agreement to invest $6.6 billion in infrastructure projects in Indonesia; local businessmen would like to see a similar commitment from the U.S. "The Chinese are coming here in an aggressive way but with Obama's visit we know we are back on the radar," says Suryo Sulisto, chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce. "Still, we would like to know why big American companies like Intel don't come here. We need to get U.S. expertise in areas like technology and telecommunications and they will be missing out on a huge market if they don't."

Cooperation in education, also covered in the initiative, is another area in which the two countries have massive room to grow. After the Asian financial crisis and September 11, the number of Indonesian students studying in the U.S. was estimated to be fewer than 8,000 in 2008, or half of what it was ten years prior, and the number of Americans currently studying in Indonesia is less than 250. "Science and technology is a primary focus in the partnership and we hope that will bring more Americans back to Indonesia and help build linkages between institutions in the two countries," says Michael McCoy, executive director of the American Indonesia Exchange Foundation that handles Fulbright scholars in the two countries. Stronger ties are also being forged through the Peace Corps, which, after 40 years, resumed sending volunteers earlier this year, when the first batch of 17 arrived, mainly in east Java.

Back in the auditorium, rows of middle-aged women giggled like schoolgirls and shouted "Barry" to their former schoolmate as Obama walked off the stage to a waiting motorcade. Although he had to cut his visit short and cancel a visit to the National Heroes Cemetery, fearing the ash from Merapi might delay his take-off to the G-20 meeting in Seoul, the "kid from Menteng" promised he would be back next year for the East Asia Summit being hosted by Indonesia. "My hope is, is that we're going to be able to come back and bring the kids and maybe visit some places outside of Jakarta," the President told reporters during the trip. "I'd love to do that."