Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia A Balinese farmer, Ketut, asked us again “What news of Obama?” In this remote region of Karangasem, known for its 1000-year-old rice fields, where electricity and cell phones arrived only 5 years ago, today’s first global candidate has swept ashore like a tsunami capturing public attention not only in this village of Ogang, but also across the vast Indonesian archipelago. Everyone knows that this possible future American president spent his first childhood in the capital of Jakarta. They also know well that his step-sister is Javanese and they have seen her face on TV. Quite simply, Barack Obama is Indonesia’s adopted son.
Ironically, only Obama’s African roots have been on full display in the media. Yet, Obama’s links to Southeast Asia offer an intriguing insight into the complex revolutionary symbol that he represents for the 250 million people of Indonesia.
When Barack first landed in the chaotic tropical nation with his young mother, Anne Dunham, he was only 6-years-old. She had left America to join her Indonesian husband, Lolo Soetor, whom she had met at the University of Hawaii. In his book, Dreams of My Father, Obama tell us our amazed he was to find himself in their new home Jakarta. The garden was filled with exotic animals—a monkey, a bird of paradise, a cockatoo and a small crocodile. In the posh leafy suburb of Menteng, he attended a Catholic School which hosted children of many faiths. That memory is alive in his classmates who have now formed a fan club for the boy they called “Barry.”
In 1971, his Indonesian experience was cut short when his mother sent him back to his grandparents in Hawaii for his high school, while she stayed on working with the Ford Foundation on women’s rights. Barack’s mother died in 1995, at the age of 52, having spent most of her time in humble Indonesian villages among orang kecil–ordinary people. Indonesia remains ingrained in him through the memory of his mother’s idealistic social commitment–not a world of Asian wealth and privilege. Obama writes of her as “the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known.” And many believe, it is his mother’s legacy that he is carrying forward as he campaigns often with his Indonesian sister at his side. With the ascendancy of Barack Hussein Obama, drastic change now threatens old-style political elites in Jakarta. This South-east Asian country—with the largest Muslim population on earth– has been the target of 2 major terrorist bombings in Bali in 2002 and 2004 by the shadowy group Jamaiyah Islamiah. Since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998, the country has struggled to shape its new identity. New Islamic parties have emerged. While some hope to establish an Islamic state, most parties embrace the national credo of Pancasila proclaimed by the nation’s founding father Sukarno, which calls for “Unity in Diversity” and “Religious Tolerance”. However, during this past decade, a more dangerous rot has infected the fragile, combustible democracy. Party politics have become riddled with corruption, more brazen than ever before. Surprisingly, Indonesia now has the most critical free press in the region. The leading weekly magazine TEMPO, founded by noted essayist Goenawan Mohamad, conducts aggressive high-profile investigative journalism, unmatched in Asia. Each issue reads with dramatic taless of high-level corruption scandals from government ministers to conglomerate magnates. TEMPO’s mission has unmasked what the public has always known. “Our system is greased by KKN,” explains Goenawan using the Indonesian acronym for corruption, collusion and nepotism. “The feudal sense of enriching the pockets of friends as well as one’s own is deeply ingrained in government offices, but the younger generation has had enough. Now, like in America, there is a wind of change. Inspired by Obama, young Indonesians are challenging the Old Order.” Today’s Indonesia is awash in electioneering, and one politician has been strong enough to break the political sclerosis of numerous parties. As campaigning has begun in earnest for the presidential election next year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, known as SBY, remains the only candidate with a message of “stability” that can break away from the two major king-making parties PDI and Golkar that have dominated Indonesian politics. With Obama’s election, the older generation of politicians—condemned as repositories of the Old Suharto system of KKN—will find that their “business as usual” will be under siege. “The euphoria is immense,” says Sagaf Basry, a publisher of Islamic-themed books in Jakarta. “Obama represents a new politics for the younger Indonesians, free of cynicism, full of hope. We are all tired of the dead-lock of corruption and lies,” he adds. “With Obama, integrity and transparency will be raised in high value. A fresh start.” Perhaps, Obama’s little known links to Indonesia will usher in a special relationship with America, moving the country into the spotlight via international media coverage. This added attention may force much needed transparency. Obama’s ascendency not only threatens Jakarta’s Old Guard, but also al-Qaeda enthusiasts across Indonesia. Jamayah Islamiah has fed off growing anti-American hostility among Muslim communities in Java since 9/11. It is not lost on Muslims that, apart from his name Barack which in Arabic means “blessed by God,” he also carries the name of the Prophet’s grandson, Hussein. These two names alone are an inoculation against any growing anti-Western sentiment in Indonesia. On the Indonesian stage, an Obama presidency will sharply contrast with the strident triumphal arrogance of the Bush administration. His international tolerance, respect for human rights and social justice will empower moderate activists that have so often been neglected in the battle against Islamic extremism. In his life experience, from childhood, he represents an original world-view which carries an intimate awareness of the major faiths and cultures from the continents of Asia and Africa. From his Chinese brother-in-law in Vancouver, to his Javanese step-sister, his diversity breaks the mold of a Euro-centric American focus. It is this unexpected inclusion of both Asian and African heritage which resonates so profoundly from Cairo to Capetown, from Hong Kong to Jakarta. Symbolically this global candidate with an Arabic name reaches out to hundreds of millions across the world. With Iran, America’s bete noire, the current antagonism may be re-configured by Obama’s offer of dialogue. This act alone will greatly reduce the possibility of conflict with Iran and calm the flashpoints of Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza. “No Westerner can understand the dramatic impact on the global Shi’ite community to see an American President carrying the name Hussein, the beloved grandson of the Prophet,” explains Basry. “Hussein is not only the most revered martyr in Shiite Islam, he is our greatest hero who fought and died for justice and the ‘true Islam’ in Kerbala.” His shrine in Iraq is the site of thousands of Shiite pilgrims during the month of Moharram, which marks the anniversary of his tragic death. With Obama’s election, tensions across the Islamic world will be re-calibrated downward, in the hopes that he may deliver a long-elusive peace in the region. Of course, Osama bin Ladin will still view him as a lethal enemy. Yet, in the court of public opinion, his message of tolerance and mutual-respect will negate much attraction of al-Qaeda’s message of conflict. If Obama represents global humanity, Osama bin Laden loses his adversary. According to Howard Zinn, an American progressive historian, “democracy’s changing face may have ended the “Empire,” and restored the “Republic” at a time when the world had lost hope.” Politics of cynicism and racial seclusion that have become increasingly popular in Europe may now be seen as antiquated, defensive stratagems that have no future in this 21st century world. Obama’s global candidacy has broken color, religious and cultural barriers that were cemented in place since the Colonial Epoch. Social Darwinism has been buried once and for all. He embodies the best argument for diversity on the planet. This most unusual post-colonial candidate who has captured the imagination of Europe, also speaks for Ketut, the rice farmer under Bali’s sacred volcano, as much as he does for our friend Hassan in Isfahan who every night listens to the news wondering if the impossible can happen.
