Obama planning to visit this year: Yudhoyono
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 04/03/2009 11:22 AM
US president Barack Obama plans to visit Indonesia this year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters during a flight from London to Surabaya, East Java, on Thursday night.
Obama had announced the plan to his Indonesian counterpart while the two leaders were sitting next to each other at a working breakfast during the G-20 summit in London, on Thursday morning (local time).
"When I told Obama that the people of Indonesia were awaiting his visit, he said he planned to do so this year," Yudhoyono said, as quoted by Antara news agency.
If Obama's plan is realized, the US president would meet his former elementary school friends in Jakarta.
At one point during the G-20 summit, Obama had surprisingly tapped Yudhoyono on the shoulder and asked, "Feeling tired?"
"Then I said, 'No, I am OK.' He still remembers a lot of Indonesian words, such as 'apa kabar' for how are you, and 'capek' for feeling tired."
When speaking at the working breakfast about Indonesia's views and attitude toward the current global financial downturn, Yudhoyono spoke in Indonesian.
In his introduction, Yudhoyono said he hoped Obama could understand what he was saying.
"Obama then laughed and said he had to learn to speak Bahasa Indonesia again."
The US president was a good listener and was able to approach anyone, Yudhoyono said.
"I saw that Obama continued to listen attentively to everybody, and hopefully it will be a new chapter for the United States to see our common views." (dre)
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