The announcement took the Indonesian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly by surprise, not so much by the content as by the timing and because Obama had decided to make the announcement himself rather than his staff at the White House.

“Obama in his speech at the opening of the General Assembly said he plans to visit Indonesia shortly,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told Indonesian journalists who are in town for Friday’s summit between Obama and leaders of ASEAN.

The trip to Indonesia will be part of an Asian tour he had planned on making in November that originally had included only India, South Korea and Japan.

As he talked about the rise of the democracies around the world that were unique for each nation, Obama said, “Later this fall, I will travel to Asia. And I will visit India, which peacefully threw off colonialism and established a thriving democracy of over a billion people.

“I’ll continue to Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, which binds together thousands of islands through the glue of representative government and civil society.

“I’ll join the G20 meeting on the Korean Peninsula, which provides the world’s clearest contrast between a society that is dynamic and open and free, and one that is imprisoned and closed.

“And I will conclude my trip in Japan, an ancient culture that found peace and extraordinary development through democracy.

“Each of these countries gives life to democratic principles in their own way.”

Vice President Boediono will have a chance of finding out more about the Indonesian trip when he meets with Obama at the summit on Friday, and whether he will be coming with his daughters, as he had promised on the two canceled visits.

Obama, who spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia, canceled the first time in March because of
an important vote over his healthcare bill and again in June to attend to the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said in Jakarta that Obama had not yet mentioned an exact date for the visit in his speech at but Indonesia appreciated his intention.

“We appreciate that President Obama is still committed to his intention to visit Indonesia. With regard to the schedule we can arrange it later,” he said, as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said until now there had not been further communications with the US regarding the planned visit.

“We regard the statement positively. We grasped the committment. So far there have been a lot of developments that have indeed made President Obama to stay in his country,” Faizasyah said.

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