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Owner of Obama's house passes away
Wed, 11/05/2008 10:29 AM | City
JAKARTA: After suffering from prostate cancer, the owner of the house where U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama lived during his childhood, passed away Tuesday morning in Jakarta.
Tata Abubakar Soerono, 78, was buried in Tanah Kusir Cemetery with a military ceremony after dying on the way to hospital.
Obama's family rented Tata's house at Jl. Taman Amir Hamzah 22 from 1969 to 1970.
According to Menteng resident Slamet Danuaji, 50, Tata was close to Obama.
"He treated Obama like his own son, and they were good friends," said Slamet to kompas.com in Jakarta.
The relationship between Obama and Tata was well known to local residents, particularly those in the community for many years.
"They used to have fun together. Obama was still in elementary school at that time," Slamet added.
According to his daughter, Sandra, her father passed away at 5:20 am on the way to St. Carolus Hospital in Salemba, Jakarta.
"We brought him to hospital after he said he was sick, but he never made it," Sandra said.
Tata, who was a retired naval officer, is survived by his wife and five children. -- JP
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HUDO (not verified) — Wed, 11/12/2008 - 3:48am
Ok, now's the chance to turn the place into a bar!!
"Back Home Obama"
Has a nice ring to it.
RobB (not verified) — Sat, 11/08/2008 - 5:26am
Gee MrDan you do not care about an old man passing away but you care about how much his house is worth because the president-elect of the US once lived there for a year or two.
Who cares about how much the house is worth or how much it sells for? It is after all just a house, it's not my house, and what it sells for will have no impact on my financial position. So, why should I care?
Human interest perhaps?
Yuba (not verified) — Sat, 11/08/2008 - 12:36am
R.I.P. Tata Abubakar Soerono
Karima Yolita (not verified) — Fri, 11/07/2008 - 9:10pm
hmmm, i do care...
Alice (not verified) — Fri, 11/07/2008 - 8:07pm
Dude like, who gives a crap?
Riani nurainah (not verified) — Fri, 11/07/2008 - 2:53pm
So what?
What's the point? I hope Jakarta Post could be more sensitive and critical in delivering news. There are more important news to be informed to society...
MrDan (not verified) — Thu, 11/06/2008 - 10:42am
Duh.
Who cares ?
What would be funny to know right now, though, is how much the house will be sold.
Tassia Sipahutar (not verified) — Thu, 11/06/2008 - 10:10am
This article is not important at all.