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nternational observers had touted Indonesia as the most suitable venue for the US president to deliver his first major speech to the Muslim world, but Barack Obama has chosen Egypt.

Obama is scheduled to deliver a major foreign policy speech in Egypt on Thursday, to reach out to Muslims worldwide in a move aimed at mending ties with the Muslim world.

Azyumardi Azra, a prominent Indonesian Islamic scholar, said the decision reflected Obama's priority to secure peace in the Middle East, despite Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's autocratic rule. Mubarak has governed the country for more than three decades with limited tolerance of political opposition or dissent.

"It is true that Indonesia is more appropriate for Obama's major speech because it *Indonesia* is a big democracy with a moderate Muslim majority," said the history professor from Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University.

"However, Obama's considerations might rest on the fact that Egypt is one of most important US allies in the Middle East, second only after Israel. Obama hopes that Egypt will fully support the US peace plan for Palestine and Israel," he said.

Achmad Jainuri, a rector at Muhammadiyah University in Sidoarjo, East Java, said Indonesia was not chosen because it was located in Asia, not the Middle East.

"For religious reasons, Indonesia may have been the best place for his speech, but geopolitically it is not, as Obama has to deal first with the mother of all conflicts between Israel and Palestine, before he can really reach out to all Muslims," he said.

When Obama revealed his plan to visit a Muslim country for a major speech within the first 100 days of his administration, an American expert and an exiled Egyptian scholar in the United States wrote opinion articles for The New York Times and The Washington Post saying that Indonesia would make the best choice.

"Choosing Indonesia would throw light on the diversity and richness of Islam, which is not, contrary to lingering perceptions, practiced solely by Arabs or only in the Middle East. The country, home to the world's largest Muslim population, does a reasonable job of managing its considerable religious heterogeneity. Going there would help Mr. Obama to reframe the debate in the West about Islam and terrorism," wrote Michael Fullilove, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, in The New York Times.

Egyptian dissident, Saad Eddin Ibrahim argued in The Washington Post in December that, "democracy should be central to Obama's message. and to his choice of where to deliver it". The Egyptian ruling party responded to the article by pressing charges against the 70-year-old professor, who has been in exile since 2007. The conviction was later overturned.

Observers have also claimed that Obama's link with Indonesia (the US president spent five years of his childhood in Jakarta with his mother and Indonesian stepfather) would boost the image of the United States as a Muslim-friendly nation.

Obama's decision to pick Egypt has drawn criticism not only from Muslim countries, but also from US nationals.

An Iranian expert said Egypt may be "the worst choice Obama could have made" to aid reconciliation with the Muslim world.

"Egypt has a despotic regime whose dictator has been completely discredited by his own people," Mohammad Marandi, a professor who heads North American Studies at Tehran University, told Reuters.

The Washington Post carried an article saying that Obama could expose himself to criticism in the Arab-Middle East for showing tacit support of Hosni Mubarak. The 81-year-old Mubarak has used his security services to harass and detain political rivals and is preparing for his son to succeed him, the story explained.