I refer to an article titled "Washington in *good mood', paying close attention to RI," (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 14).
Sorry, but Indonesia (most of its people and politicians) are acting very much like naive children, exaggerating things far too much. So Obama is anak Menteng (the Menteng child), then how is it he does not seem to be proud of it at all?
From what I know, he even tried to cover this up, probably because he did not think it would be very helpful to his career. George W. Bush Jr. visited Indonesia too and it is true that Indonesia is among the G20 (and kudos for that), but that is because of its GDP. Malaysia is among the G20 too, with a fifth of Indonesia's population, the same for Japan, Taiwan, S-Korea.
Indonesia and the people should not go "gaga" about Obama and the fact he once lived in Indonesia. Who knows what downside that could have too? Let us say Obama could have been mugged in his youth in Jakarta, would that mean that he'll hate Indonesia? He would be very shallow and superficial to do so. But it seems that Indonesians think that he is. Why else would they assume that just because he lived in Indonesia once, he will treat Indonesia any better than any other country?
And what is it about SBY and Clinton discussing the conflict in the Middle East? What does this have to do with the American-Indonesian relationship?
Florian Laur
Jakarta
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